BIOGRAPHY
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She loves Symbolism and is passioned by the human body.
Her paintings are vivid , very original with a slight psychedelic touch.
She evoluates quickly and finds more and more inspiration in real life.
This is the beginning of a period with very realistic portraits from Ostend,
her style remaining typical and very recognisable.
She paints extremely detailed, using bigger and bigger canvases.
She doesn’t shun the dark, shocking and provocative themes of life ; drugs, sex, religion, pornography, booze....
Being an huge admirer of Stanley Kubrick and his masterpiece ‘A CLOCKWORK ORANGE’, everything comes together into her work. The film gives a decisive twist to her oeuvre: she starts painting by using a photographic element.
It gives her work an energetic boost.
She no longer paints round forms, but simplifies the general hauls of photography, suggesting a cubic impression in her paintings.
Each painting breathes an intense atmosphere , summoned by the sparkling colours she uses.
The introduction of the triangle is typical of this period:
One could say she introduces Triangulism, in stead of a Cubism.
This triangle is a disturbing element because of its distinct and different context in the work.
As if one piece of the puzzle is removed on purpouse, as if she pushes the ‘STOP’ button to freeze and capture an intense moment of life into one image.
Bénédicte always uses the best materials, linen canvases and oil paint ‘Rembrandt’.
Bénédicte is a perfectionist, unsatiable, constantly pushing herself , not knowing her own boundaries and always moving forward.
This gives her the strenght to outdo herself, to never stand still at one subject , to always discover new frontiers and new energy to paint.
Bénédicte Vandewattyne (Belgium, Leuven november 17th 1969) paints since childhood.
It is her natural way of expressing herself , of escaping...
She goes to the Academy of Fine Arts and gets her diploma in Doornik at the St-Lucas Insitute of Arts.
She moves to the coastside and developes a strong connection with the sea and the city of Ostend in particular.
Ostend becomes her new home.
Her first paintings are caracterised by intense colours and extremely finished forms.
Her inspiration is the inevitable result of her spontaneous desire to paint , and the freedom she gets from this.