Jan Van Den Driessche (1954) - La Reine Poecka

The Belgian Jan Van Den Driessche. Born in 1954 in Geraardsbergen. He is a painter. Son of Lucien, nephew of René Van Den Driessche. Education: Roman philology. Self-taught in painting.

He creates in his works a colorful world in which elements are incorporated that can refer at the same time to the circus and to death, bearing witness to unbridled imagination and providing a kind of panorama of the human condition, of the fortunes we undergo during our presence here on earth, seen through the eyes of a keen observer who does not shy away from the absurd. From the press: ‘The paintings of J.V.D.D. are baroque scenes in which numerous allusions are indicated. Each scene is a set of motifs and presences that refer as much to a dream as to a reality’ (H. Brutin, 1977) and ‘The work of J.V.D.D. reflects society in a dance of death’ (J. De Geest, 1995) and finally: ‘The great obsession, both in life and in the work of J.V.D.D., is to discover the truth. This means that he is not bound by the appearance of reality of people or things. On the contrary: he seeks to tear away the disguise that hides the deepest reality of our surroundings. But he also wants to clothe the truth he pursues with forms and garments that carry symbolic meaning: only then can it acquire universal value.’ (W. Toebosch).

Winner of the Kulturama Prize at Haagt in 1986, the Médiatine Prize in Sint-Woluwe Lambert in 1986, winner of the Anto Diez Prize in Bredene in 1987, of the André Toetenel Prize in 1989, of the Eugène Van Mieghem Prize in Antwerp in 1987, second prize for painting at Art’Alès in Alès/France in 1997, second winner of the City Prize of Poperinge in 1998. He settled in the south of France. Bibliography: Jan Van Den Driessche (Kunstpocket, Schelderode, 1992), Jan Van De Driessche (A. Carré, Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, 1999). Mentioned in BAS II and Two centuries of signatures of Belgian artists. (pirone)