Bio |
Spear is a Belgian painter based in Brussels and has been painting since 2002. With art as a way to create a social and humanist message, his work is split into inside and outside activities. Traveling half of the year, he painted in a few Latin countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Belize, Mexico, Cuba… and European cities such as Paris, Berlin, London and of course Brussels. Traveling made him aware of different social realities where he discovered a different way of thinking and living, but it also made him question our lifestyle and values. His outside interventions are primordial for this artist who uses it as an icebreaker with local population: “When I’m travelling, painting gives me the possibility to be more than just a tourist. It creates a special relationship with locals. From here on, an exchange starts where I’m not only taking from them, but also giving something. We are all at the same time teacher and pupil of everyone as everyone has something to learn from everybody. All the lessons learned on the road constitute the breeding ground of my inspiration for my work and my life”. Placing big scale portraits is his way to re-humanize our cities, and to remind someone how important it is to stay in touch with your feelings and emotions, in a society which has a tendency to lose human values. The human figure became a selling product and is only use as a tool for promotion, an empty sheath. Spear is fascinated by old masters, their techniques and the incredible power of narration in their paintings. But he is also very inspired by contemporaneous artists such as Michael Borremans, Alex Kanevsky or Connor Harrington. His work is a slow transition from an academic formation into a more contemporary representation passing from a controlled realism to a more spontaneous and deconstructed painting. Engaged and convinced that we all can do something to change the world in which we live; Spear launched the “Painted for Them” project in 2012. The aim of this charitable project is to help people in need and break the prejudices. It is based on three axes: human exchange, artistic creation and the Intention of changing the mentalities. This project represents a part of his production. His last show “Invisibles” presented the stories of twenty homeless people he met in the streets. The profit of the show was given to associations who work to improve the situation of homeless people in Brussels. Most of his models painted in the streets are also homeless, a poetic way to make the Invisibles visible again… |
Spear
painter
