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Valerie JA Vandermotten
Country where you live:
- Belgium
City where you live:
- Genval
Website:
Statement :
Inspired by the colours themselves, memories of places and nature, I combine different colours to find some harmony that I want fragile as the impermanence of life. I look for subtle depth and light while overlapping gestural marks. I wish to achieve beauty and a visual sensory which are meditative and vibrant.
![](https://www.artjobs.com/sites/default/files/styles/1000/public/submit-image-opencalls/2021/Sep/2020%20-%20Vandermotten%20Valerie%20JA%20-%20LET%27S%20HAVE%20A%20WALK%20-%20acrylic%20on%20linen%20-%20132%2C5%20x%20212%2C5%20cm%20-%2052%2C16%20x%2083%2C66%20in%20-%20November%202020.jpg?itok=wHqrZyuE)
Let's Have a Walk
The subject is the sunset, observed during a walk in a period of confinement. In the Tibetan ledger of life and death, each beginning represents the birth of life and each end represents death. Sunset is the end of a day and therefore death. However, the liveliness of the painting brings hope and comfort. The hope is to keep a positive attitude during this health crisis. The overlap and the proximity of the elements refer to the hope of reuniting with family and friends. Natura naturans is the active and productive aspect of the universe (one of the two aspects of nature) according to Spinoza's philosophy. In these words, the brilliance and vibrancy of the painting reflects the active aspect of nature. However, nature is taken for nature and its beauty and is not proof of the existence of God as in Spinoza's theory where nature is God.
Acrylic on linen
Natura Naturans series
![](https://www.artjobs.com/sites/default/files/styles/1000/public/submit-image-opencalls/2021/Sep/2020%20-%20Vandermotten%20Valerie%20JA%20-%20LES%20PIMPANTES%20-%20acrylico%20on%20linen%20-%20132%2C5%20x%20212%2C5%20cm%20-%2052%2C16%20x%2083%2C66%20in%20-%202020.jpg?itok=E3l0v0lb)
Les Pimpantes
The work is inspired by a bush whose red flowers explode with life, photographed during a walk in the Uccle Fort-Jaco neighborhood where the artist had his studio. The artist symbolized this floral "push" by extending the bush across the width of the canvas, thus achieving a harmony of the whole painting. The contrast between the red of the flowers and the green of the leaves enhances the joyful liveliness of the flowers. Les Pimpantes represent the flowers at the time of their blooming, all in lightness thanks to their thin stems, bringing rapture and hope during the period of confinement.
Acrylic on linen
Natura Naturans series
![](https://www.artjobs.com/sites/default/files/styles/1000/public/submit-image-opencalls/2021/Sep/2019%20-%20Vandermotten%20Valerie%20JA%20-%20PETRA%20-%20120x180%20cm%20-%2047.24x70.86%20in.jpg?itok=aDFu3yal)
Petra
diptych.
acrylic on linen
Transitions series
![](https://www.artjobs.com/sites/default/files/styles/1000/public/submit-image-opencalls/2021/Sep/IMG_7519.jpg?itok=0NcdyMoU)
Papillon Bleu
Acrylic on linen
Voices II series
![](https://www.artjobs.com/sites/default/files/styles/1000/public/submit-image-opencalls/2021/Sep/2014%20-%20le%20colibri.jpg?itok=8avuGumR)
The Hummingbird
Acrylic on linen
Animals Totems series
Bio:
Valerie J.A. Vandermotten is an international abstract and figurative artist painter inspired by the spiritual expression of nature.
Born in Brussels in 1973, the artist grew up in Evere.
At an early age, she has been exposed to arts and crafts. She received a classical education with ballet classes and classical music. Art books on Renoir and Van Gogh, to name a few of them, were on the shelves of the living room.
With this sensorial awakening, it was at the Northen seaside in Wenduine, where Valerie spent repetitive family vacation for many years, that her journey into art mindfulness took its roots. Like a ritual, she used to go to the beach, crossing a small wood, stopping by a park on her way and greeting deers and a peacock that happily lived there. She stayed for hours in the dunes, looking at the sea, listening to the sound of the waves and admiring incredible colorful sunsets.
Despite her keenness towards art and creative activities, the artist's youth was rather focused on her studies at college aiming to get her to safe future career. She then got graduated as Executive Secretary and started to work in the medical research industry.
In 2005, the artist decided to return to the artitistic aspirations of her childhood. She slowed down her career and took classes in creative writing, painting and drawing. She soon realized that painting was her definite call and from a part-time activity it became a full time occupation. The artist attended Belgian Art Schools (Ecole d’Art d’Uccle et Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Wavre) where an exercice on the stroke pushed her to explore abstract compositions.
In 2011, the artist moved to Northern California where she pursued her artistic journey. Influenced by the local nature, her love for colors begun over there as well as an evolution towards semi-abstract landscapes. In 2017, she completed a Post-Baccalaureate in Visual Arts at UC Berkeley Extension San Francisco Campus. The same year, Valerie JA Vandermotten has been among the finalists of the Bay Area Masters competition 2017 organized by the Peninsula Museum of Art (Burlingame, CA, USA).
In 2018, the artist moved back to her home country where she lives and works, varying the degree of abstraction of her vision on nature.
Valerie JA Vandermotten is an awarded artist and has had 24 group exhibitions and 1 solo show.
Japan tokyo |
United States Van Nuys |
United States Sausalito |
Germany Berlin |
United States New York |