Uitstalling The Villa
Frans Smit
Remastered
April 23rd - July 11th, 2021
REMASTERED
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So for Remastered, I did exactly what the title says. Old master artworks were used as inspiration or subjects and reworked into new contemporary artworks.
New art techniques were applied, and also bringing in spray paint to create a street art feel. Also, neon pigment is present in many of the artworks, colours not available when the old masters made these paintings.
Creating a dialogue between the old and new. Creating a juxtaposition between what is allowed. The purists and those that love to be more daring.
It is a popular topic at the moment, the whole movement of art appropriation. What is allowed, how far can you go before it’s just plain plagiarism?
Many of these artworks are in permanent collections in Museums all around the world. Often locked away in vaults for years for preservation purposes. I hope that somehow I can give these masterpieces a rival and presence again in some way.
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With this body of work, I just allowed myself to play. I didn’t do any pre-studies or planned what the result would be. It just happened organically.
After ‘Landscape with Nymphs (and Diana)’, by Bartholomeus Breenbergh
After ‘Portrait of Johannes Wtenbogaert, Rembrandt
After ‘Portrait of Johannes Wtenbogaert’, Rembrandt
After ‘Landscape with Nymphs (and Diana)’, by Bartholomeus Breenbergh
After ‘Landscape with Nymphs (and Diana)’, by Bartholomeus Breenbergh
650 x 550 x 25 mm - Oil and spray on Belgian linen
(Framed 663 x 563 mm)
After ‘Still Life with Apples and a Pomegranate’ - Gustave Courbet
550 x 425 x 4 mm - Oil and spray on Belgian linen on board - Pasted on board - Thin frame black with gold strip inside
(Framed 563 x 438 mm)
After ‘Aurora’ by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini (Front)
600 x 550 x 26 mm - Oil and spray on Belgian linen - Thin frame black with gold strip inside (Framed 613 x 563 mm)
After ‘Portrait of Johannes Wtenbogaert, Rembrandt
682 x 999 x 26 mm - Oil and spray on Belgian linen - Thick frame black with gold strip inside - Gold at bottom
(Framed 700 x 1015 mm)
After ‘The Dwindling Night’ by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini (Rear)
600 x 550 x 26 mm - Oil and spray on Belgian linen - Thin frame black with gold strip inside (Framed 613 x 562 mm)
After ‘Cornelis van der Geest with semi self portrait’, Anthony Van Dyck
600 x 750 x 25 mm - Oil on canvas- Thick black with gold strip inner
(Framed 616 x 766 mm)
Collage with San Sebastian
1298 x 1298 x 48 mm - Oil and spray on canvas - Strip black frame, float 1 cm (Framed 1302 x 1302 mm)
After ‘Immaculate conception’, Guido Reni
680 x 1000 x 26 mm - Mixed media on Belgian linen - Thick frame gold with black at bottom - Gold strip inner
(Framed 696 x 1015 mm)
After ‘Roses in a glass vase’ by Jacob Van Hulsdonck
734 x 886 x 27 mm - Mixed media on Belgian linen- Thick black frame with bone stripe inner (Framed 750 x 902 mm)
After ‘Flowers in a Vase’, Daniel Seghers
600 x 750 x 26 mm - Oil on canvas- Thick black frame with bone strip inner (Framed 616 x 766 mm)
After ‘Portrait of Aechje Claesdr’, Rembrandt
500 x 600 x 25 mm - Oil on canvas - Thick black frame with bone strip inner (Framed 516 x 616 mm)
After ‘Portrait of Johannes Uyttenboogaert’, Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt
500 x 600 x 25 mm - Oil and spray on canvas - Black thick frame with gold strip inner (Framed 516 x 616 mm)
After ‘Portrait of Haesje Jacobs dr. Van Cleysburg’, Rembrandt
400 x 500 x 25 mm - Oil and spray on canvas - Thin frame black with gold strip inner (Framed 413 x 513 mm)
After ‘Portrait of Johannes Wtenbogaert’, Rembrandt
A1 Screen print - Edition of 25
After ‘A skull’. Oil painting. Artist unknown
350 mm x 450 mm - Oil and spray on Belgian linen - Thin black frame with bone strip inner (Framed 368 x 463 mm)
ATTENTION: THIS EXHIBITION WILL TAKE PLACE AT UITSTALLING THE VILLA, MARCEL HABETSLAAN 13, 3600 GENK
FRANS SMIT
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Frans Smit was born in Stellenbosch in 1976. After he finished school, he studied science at Stellenbosch university, although a keen interest in the sciences, he decided to study in a field with more creativity and so ended up at the Freestate Technicon to study photography. After completing 4 years, he moved to london where he furthered he’s interest in the creative arts and followed various courses in painting at institutions like Chelsea College of art and design, City lit and the prestigious Central Saint Martins.
Re-imagining old masters paintings into contemporary artworks is the centre around which Frans Smit’s creative process revolves. A hybrid of current and past art movements, give way to a new visual language, evident in his latest body of work. Reaching into the past, Smit derives inspiration from 13th–17th century European portraits, biblical scenes and still life. Composition and subject serve as a starting point for both paintings and fine art photography.
On canvas, the artist wields a wide range of contemporary mediums and practices that are carefully brought into balance with highly orthodox and classical approaches to painting. Famous and lesser known masterpieces by Rembrandt, John Singer Sargent, Van Eyck, Velazquez and others are given new life and meaning.
Smit’s art focuses mainly on portraiture and still lives, which blends in a degree of abstract. Frans’ personal reinterpretation of classical artists such as Rembrandt and Sargent, offers a fresh and vibrant spin to the traditional portraiture style of the painting masters of the past, marking his art as an essential contribution to the contemporary painting scene.