In a few words, who are you?
I am Jenny Verplanke, born in the Netherlands but living in Belgium for many years.
When and how did you get into your art?
As a teenager I was already painting and drawing, participated in art fairs. But my parents wouldn't let me go to an art school. There is no living to be made from that. When I was married and had some growing children, my husband encouraged me to go to the academy anyway albeit in evening classes. I followed six years of painting and six years of ceramics. In 1989, I had my first solo exhibition and was selected in competitions and won some prizes. From there it has continued to grow systematically and now more than 20 years we live off what the art brings in.
What makes your art unique?
I make both sculptures and paintings, both are still influenced by our five-year stay in Togo West Africa where we worked as volunteers. The paintings belong in matter painting and are also called lyrical abstract. The sculptures are modelled from a proprietary developed mixture of paper pulp and wood fibres with different types of glue kneaded into a malleable paste. The result is unbreakable but not suitable for outdoors, which is why they are also cast in bronze.
What do you think are the important characteristics of an artist?
The never-ending development. Being able to tell in visual language what cannot be said with words.
What do you think are the characteristics of a Belgian artist?
Many Belgian artists are less smug and prefer to stay in the background. I think that our academy of fine arts, which is open and accessible to anyone who wants it, is a fantastic thing that many,neighbouring countries can rightly envy.
If we take R. Magritte's definition that "to be a surrealist is to banish the already seen from the mind and seek the not yet seen", then you are in the middle of surrealism. What is surrealism for you?
To use an African proverb, a road is created by walking on it. Where there is no road, it will come by walking back and forth on it a lot. Just because something isn't there yet doesn't mean it can't become a reality.
