Self- Portraits
While images of the self date to antiquity, the self-portrait emerged as a distinct and enduring genre in the mid-15th century. This period, fueled by the Renaissance ideals of individual identity and artistic mastery, saw creators like Albrecht Dürer systematically depicting themselves not merely as craftsmen, but as subjects of depth and introspection.
From then on, the self-portrait became a vital medium for artistic exploration. It is a practice where the artist is both observer and observed, a complex dialogue conducted through brushstrokes, light, and composition. Masters across eras have turned the gaze inward: Rembrandt traced his own aging and soul across dozens of canvases; Frida Kahlo wove personal pain and cultural identity into iconic imagery; Vincent van Gogh used his own visage to master color and convey profound emotion. In the modern era, figures like Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, and Robert Mapplethorpe have continually reinvented the form, using it to deconstruct identity, celebrity, gender, and the very nature of representation.
Even in our digital age, where the smartphone offers instant, endless self-documentation, the classical self-portrait endures. Its power lies not in replication, but in the slow, psychological process of creation. It demands a raw confrontation with one's own image—a transformative act of reflection, interpretation, and emotional truth that a fleeting photograph cannot replicate. (You already know the kind of photography I’m referring to) The self-portrait remains a fundamental quest: not just to see oneself, but to understand and ultimately, to reveal.
This series of self-portraits is, in part, a tribute to my alma mater and, more broadly, to artistic education.
I believe that the practice of painting fully allows for a self-taught path; however, in my case, walking the corridors of the Fine Arts schools was profoundly important, as was the good fortune of encountering the many wonderful and patient human beings with whom I shared one of the most exquisite periods of my life.
Today, in my fifties, I am very proud of having made the decision to enter the Academy: the Royal Academy of Brussels in my first year, followed by subsequent years at the Academy of Tournai.
Regarding my postgraduate studies, I should say that it was there that I primarily learned to experiment with what were then the new digital arts; however, for the purposes of this series, I will focus on the Academy of Fine Arts of Tournai, Belgium.
From that training stem some of the decisions I make in my current work. For example, the fact that my compositions are constructed in fragments, frame by frame, within a single painting is undoubtedly the result of my contact with the Franco-Belgian school of comic art: The “Bandes dessinées”
Before writing in detail about the inspiration behind these works, I will begin by commenting on the specifics of each piece.
The first one began as a sketch for the larger work, but during the process of its making it started to develop a character of its own and ultimately became a complete, autonomous piece.
The accumulation of marbles and ping-pong balls strikes me as a symbol of innocence, celestial bodies, and youth, and also evokes for me the act of play.
For me, play is a central reference in the act of creation, and it inevitably brings to mind Hans-Georg Gadamer’s The Relevance of the Beautiful, a seminal essay and collection of texts that explores how aesthetic experience—art and beauty—is not merely a source of personal pleasure but a fundamental means of understanding ourselves and the world. Gadamer shows how art bridges tradition and modernity and reveals truth through play, symbol, and participation, while also challenging the modern disconnection between art and community.
The work argues that beauty is not obsolete but essential to meaning, capable of integrating society, culture, and individual perception, and even of addressing contemporary crises, including environmental ones.
Play (Spiel): Aesthetic experience involves "play," a state where the individual is drawn into something larger, blurring the lines between observer and art, self and world.
Truth & Imitation: Beauty reveals truth, not through mere copying (imitation), but by making the universal visible in the particular, revitalizing concepts often dismissed today.
Integration: Art, when relevant, integrates individuals, community, and culture, countering the alienation of modern life.
Ecological Crisis: Beauty helps us perceive the interconnectedness of nature and human action, vital for addressing environmental destruction.
Human Need: It fulfills a fundamental human need for meaning, helping us express the ineffable and drive innovation.
In essence, The Relevance of the Beautiful asserts that beauty—often marginalized by modern emphases on utility—remains essential to a complete human experience, fostering connection, understanding, and a deeper sense of meaning.
A shrine (Latin: scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: escrin "box or case") is a sacred space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon, or similar figure of respect, wherein they are venerated or worshipped. Shrines often contain idols, relics, or other such objects associated with the figure being venerated.
The Merovingian dynasty emerged from the Frankish aristocracy. The Franks, united in a league since the 3rd century AD, had gradually settled in the northeast of the Roman Empire, especially in Gaul (Belgian Gaul), where the ancestors of the Merovingians took root. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, some families, enriched by their service to Rome, acquired significant local power. One of these, the Merovingian dynasty, would emerge and establish the first Frankish royal dynasty.
The dynastic name, in medieval Latin Merovingi or Merohingii, derives from King Merovech , around whom many legends surround. Unlike Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies, the Merovingians never claimed descent from a god, nor is there any evidence that they were considered holy. The Merovingians' long hair distinguished them from the Frankish peoples, who generally wore their hair short. Contemporaries sometimes referred to them as the "long-haired or scalped kings" (Latin reges criniti ). A Merovingian whose hair was cut could not rule, and a rival could be removed from the succession by being tonsured and sent to a monastery.
The first known Merovingian king was Childeric I
Old and original Slate from the Tournai Cathedral in my personal collection.
Notre-Dame de Tournai Shrine
Art rhéno-mosan, vers 1205
90 x 126 x 70 cm
Notre-Dame de Tournai Cathedral
The reliquary of Notre-Dame of Tournai stands apart from others because its narrative scenes replace the usual isolated statuettes. The iconography of these reliefs focuses on the life of Christ. Along the sides appear the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Flight into Egypt, the Presentation in the Temple, and the Baptism of Christ, while the roof depicts scenes of the Passion and the Resurrection, which have been extensively restored.
It is not known which relics were originally placed inside the reliquary. When it was opened in 1888, relics of local and Eastern saints (Nicaise, Remi, Piat, Amand, Eloi, George, John Chrysostom, among others) were discovered, along with the Virgin’s milk. Restored several times since the Middle Ages, the reliquary was in very poor condition by the nineteenth century. Around 1890, a major restoration led by the architect Louis Cloquet succeeded in saving it.
An inscription on the base indicates the date of its execution (1205), the quantity of precious metals used, and the name of a goldsmith, Master Nicholas of Verdun. He is one of the few medieval goldsmiths whose name has been preserved, and also one of the greatest artists of his time. Working in collaboration with other goldsmiths, he took part in the creation of two other masterpieces that survive today: the Shrine of the Three Kings in Cologne Cathedral and the enameled ambo of Klosterneuburg Abbey (near Vienna). The goldsmith thus traveled great distances to fulfill major commissions.
 |
The Shrine of St. Ursula is a carved and gilded wooden reliquary containing oil on panel inserts (87x33x91 cm) by Hans Memling. Dating to c. 1489, it is housed in the Hans Memling Museum in the Old St. John's Hospital (Sint-Janshospitaal), Bruges, in the Flemish Region of modern-day Belgium. |
 |
The Ghent Altarpiece, also called the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb (Dutch: De aanbidding van het Lam Gods),[A] is a very large and complex 15th-century polyptych altarpiece in St Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium. It was begun around the mid-1420s and completed by 1432, and it is attributed to the Early Netherlandish painters and brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck.
 |
| Mar I.A. *PBNDB2000 Mural artwork May 2001 Tournai, Belgium. The cathedral can be seen at the end of the street. From the "Mar I.A." Series |
 |
| Self-portrait 2001 Tournai, Belgium Photographic film |
 |
Self-portrait *SOL20251007 Mixed media / Polyester resin 29 X 31 X 28 centimeters (11X12X11 inches) 2025. |
Embedded in the surface of the chrysalis, a constellation of ping-pong balls introduces a metaphor of play as a fundamental dimension of life—whether as challenge, experimentation, or strategy. They evoke life as a playing field in which we must invent, learn, and continually negotiate the rules as we move forward.
 |
Self -Portrait *t
Mixed media / Canvas 300 X 200 centimeters
2025
I completed the first version of this painting in 2002. Over time, it continued to evolve until I considered it finished in 2025, which is the date on which I formally declare it complete.
Some Details
Comments
Post a Comment