“One of my oldest memories is from when I was a 6-year-old in first grade,” says artist Jef De Corte, who recently won Grand Prize in International Artistmagazine’s Abstract/Experimental Art Challenge. “The teacher drew a rabbit on the blackboard for all the kids to copy. Apparently, the teacher loved mine and admitted my drawing was better than his. I was already into drawing from a very young age.”
Relics III, acrylic pouring on canvas and plywood surfaces, metal gold foil on inside of UltraVue® UV70 anti-reflective glass, 10 x 10" (with handmade wooden frame)
Relics 1992 XV, airbrush in acrylic and iridescent paints on hand-marbled illustration paper, 15¾ x 19½"De Corte often works in realism, painting a variety of subjects, from landscapes and seascapes to figures and portraiture to everyday items that intrigue him. On the other hand, he also experiments with abstract art, blending elements like acrylic pouring with metal gold foil to create wholly unique paintings.
Relics IV, acrylic pouring on canvas and plywood surfaces, marbling on small copper disc, metal gold foil on inside of UltraVue® UV70 anti-reflective glass, 10 x 10" (with handmade wooden frame)While attending art school was not in the cards for De Corte in his youth, he eventually attended a local art academy and continued to advance his artistic practice through self study. “I [taught] myself to use the airbrush,” he reflects. “I got quite good at it and painted on cars, trucks, motorcycles, T-shirts and billboards, and I won several awards in the automotive field. In the early ’90s I was able to get a job in a respected illustration studio, where I specialized in hyperrealism and traditional photo-retouching for the advertising and packaging industry. I learned a lot of techniques in high-end illustration on the job there. It was during these years that I also developed my first Relics series, which were done with airbrush on hand-marbled paper and illustration board…With [this series], I wanted to create something that looked old, like remnants from a lost civilization. The paintings contained diagrams and writings in imagined characters from an unknown language, inspiring the viewer to create his own story behind it all.”
Relics II, acrylic pouring on plywood surfaces, etal gold foil on inside of UltraVue® UV70 anti-reflective glass, 10 x 10" (with handmade wooden frame)
Relics 1992 II, airbrush in acrylic and iridescent paints on hand marbled illustration board, 19½ x 25½"
His Relics series, which comprises abstract paintings of spontaneous blotches of color, continues to this day, though the focus has shifted and evolved in the last several decades. “It has a similar quality as the hand-marbling I did back in the day. I had been playing with the idea to separate the artwork on different levels to create more depth. Besides the painted artwork I mounted on different levels, I also used the glass on which I painted in my imaginary language again. Nowadays I spend most of my time on my paintings and drawings, with occasionally an illustration assignment in between. I also take on commissions, mainly drawing portraits of people or animals. In my life I used to do many different things and that is the way I like it,” he says, adding that he paints in oils, acrylics, gouache and watercolor, and draws in charcoal and soft pastel. “I do not want to commit to only one style, subject or medium.” —
Relics I, acrylic pouring on plywood surfaces, metal gold foil on inside of UltraVue® UV70 anti-reflective glass, 10 x 10” (with handmade wooden frame)
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