[illustrationandresearch]

54 — Peter Morrens

[illustrationandresearch]

53 — The eternal spacelessness

Drawing is the quickest way to map the eternal spacelessness that haunts you. It’s an immune system, emotional resistance. 

Rinus Van de Velde in Donogoo Tonka (05.03 tot 05.06.2016 in SMAK, BE)

[illustrationandresearch]

52 — Goodbye Hilla Becher

[illustrationandresearch]

51 — Everyday objects portrayed by Günther Schützenhöfer

Born in Mödling, Austria in 1965, Günther Schützenhöfer spent the majority of his early life in various institutions before moving into the Gugging House of Artists. His works were first exhibited in 2001 at the Gugging Gallery: an internationally-renowned venue known for exhibiting many important figures in Contemporary Art Brut. The Gugging House of Artists was founded in 1981 when psychiatrist Leo Navratil decided to open a residential house for mentally-ill artists in Gugging, Austria near Vienna.With an emphasis placed on their talents as opposed to their illnesses, the Gugging Artists have been part of more than 250 exhibitions in galleries and museums worldwide.

Günther Schützenhöfer is known for his smaller format drawings done exclusively using gray and colored pencils as well as his inordinately measured and intricate process. The artist begins his work by reflecting for long periods of time before proceeding in a precise and cautious manner. After deciding on a theme, he initiates his process by defining the outer contours of his primary drawing before carefully filling them in using a dense multitude of parallel lines. This technique creates a soft, almost furry texture. Thematically, Schützenhöfer’s work is various and imaginative, typically consisting of everyday objects rendered in a stylized, non-perspective manner. Reductive forms and sophisticated compositions are continuously present in his overwhelmingly affective body of art that marries emotional intricacy with technical precision.

[illustrationandresearch]

50 — Imagination on scale

Drawing doesn’t need to be confined to two dimensions. We all know pop-up cards or books in which drawings spread out and create a third dimension. There are even examples of artists who literally draw in space with all sorts of materials like for example their own body.

In architectural design and interior design, ‘opened-up’ drawings are very useful. They combine a plan of a space with set-ups or cross-cuts in one drawing and therefore make sure that the spatial context becomes visual and comprehensible. By unfolding certain parts, a maquette arises. The drawing transforms from being flat to being a drawing in space. This combined presentation was developed in the 18th century and was mostly used to represent interiors or external façades around a central courtyard.

Armand Delalieux - circa 1932 - Archives d’Architecture Moderne in Brussels

[illustrationandresearch]

49 — Scientific amusements for all sexes and all ages

In Scientific Amusements is a fully illustrated publication by Henry Frith that was published in 1890. It looks like a book of instructions due to the beautiful and almost absurd illustrations in black and white. Scientific Amusements cherishes curiosity and resourcefulness. In the preface of the book we can read the following: Young people of both sexes, and persons of all ages who have leisure and a taste for that which is ingenious as well as instructive and amusing, may be commended to this remarkably interesting collection of experiments, nearly all of which can be readily performed by an unskilled person who will carefully follow out the directions given. It is surprising how near we are to the most fundamental principles of science when we perform some of the simplest operations.

[illustrationandresearch]

48 — Reportager Award 2015

My graduation project ZONDEREIGEN was shortlisted for the Reportager Award. The exhibition in Bristol is open until Friday, May 15th.

F Block Gallery University of the West of England Department of Art and Design Bower Ashton Campus Kennel Lodge Road

[illustrationandresearch]

46 — John Philipps Emslie made infographics way before they were cool

Nowadays, infographics are very popular. They are a lovely tool to visualize complex information quickly and clearly, but also: creatively. But in spite of what many people think, Infographics are not characteristic for this time only. Scientific engravers have been organizing and illustrating dense statistics for centuries. John Philipps Emslie (1839–1913) for instance was a British topographical artist and folklorist. He illustrated a large number of maps and contributed to the British topographical archive in the mid to late 1800s. Besides these impressive astronomical and geographical illustrations he also gathered local folklore from around England, making notes and topographical drawings.

[illustrationandresearch]

45 — An illustrated cabinet of curiosities

As part of IJsberg #1 in Watou (Belgium) -- an exhibition consisting of work by me and my boyfriend and fellow illustrator Toon Delanote -- I curated my own cabinet of curiosities. The cabinet showed three different kind of objects: my own collection of feathers, minerals, stones and insects, drawings of objects (masks, hands, insects, globes) placed in wooden blocks and drawings of antique cabinets.

[illustrationandresearch]

44 — Je suis Charlie

Words and lines beat sticks and stones. Raise your pencil!

[illustrationandresearch]

43 — Happy new year!

[illustrationandresearch]

42 — Hannes Möller creates a new library of Eberbach

In 2007 the German painter Hannes Möller (°1954) started his 'Bibliothekenprojekt'. The starting point was a visit to the Cistercian Monastery Eberbach in Rheingau, where Möller was confronted with the sad fate of an historic library. During the thirty years war (1618-1648) the library was plundered and destroyed and the secularization in 1803 scattered the remaining books in all directions.

Using a manuscript index, published by the Oxford medievalist Nigel F. Palmer, Möller chased the remaining books. He visited archives and libraries in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, Belgium and Germany. With the help of committed library staff, Möller retrieved the books and took pictures so that he could copy the books in a painting exactly at a scale of 1:1. These books all show the ravages of time: war, human cruelty, yellowed or scratched. After more than two centuries, Möller recreates the library of Eberbach: a new – imaginary – library with over 200 'painted books'.

Until the 21st of December, you can find 100 of Möller's paintings in the Leuven University Library (Ladeuzeplein 21, 3000 Leuven). You can find more information about the project on this website.

[illustrationandresearch]

41 — Stages of conventionalization

Cicada -- Stages of Conventionalization Hugo Froelich (Keramic Studio Magazine, 1905)

[illustrationandresearch]

40 — A drawn interview

Lisa Currie from The Scribble Project invited me to fill in a 'name game shame'-scribble sheet. You can see the result below.

On www.lisacurrie.com you can find a bigger resolution + a funny and absurd piece of writing by Lisa.

I really like the idea of a drawn interview. Doodling and drawing is an activity that is closely connected to thinking. It is -- in my opinion -- the most direct way to think. Recently I came across a very interesting drawn interview with the talented Thoka Maer. In fact, Thoka didn't just illustrate her answers, she animated them and the result is beautiful.

[illustrationandresearch]

39 — Everything is autobiographical

“Nobody is representing anything,” Lucian Freud once said of all art, including his own. “Everything is autobiographical and everything is a portrait, even if it’s a chair.” Elsewhere, the grandson of Sigmund Freud announced that “My work is purely autobiographical. It is about myself and my surroundings. It is an attempt at a record.”

Bob Duggan in How Lucian Freud Painted Himself by Painting Others

[illustrationandresearch]

38 — The journey of Salomon August Andrée illustrated by Charlotte Peys

‎

In 2012 I illustrated the journey of Salomon August Andrée. The book called 82°65'NB, 29°52'OL tells the true and selfwritten story about Salomon August Andrée who in 1897 tried to fly to the North Pole in a balloon. The attempt failed and from his journey, journals, logbooks, and undeveloped filmrolls were found who help us to reconstruct the journey of the balloon.

The text I wrote is based on facts but appears as fiction because of its narrative character. Still, reality slips through when I base illustrations on photographs. This boundary between fact and fiction interests me. As an illustrator, I can play the role of a documentary maker or a journalist who researchs and depicts the story of Salomon August Andrée.

[illustrationandresearch]

37 — Shackleton's Journey by William Grill

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914–17), also known as the Endurance Expedition, is considered the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Conceived by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition was an attempt to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent. After the conquest of the South Pole by Roald Amundsen in 1911, this crossing from sea to sea remained, in Shackleton's words, 'the one great main object of Antarctic journeyings'. The expedition failed to accomplish this objective, but became recognised as an epic feat of endurance.

Many different books have been published about Shakleton's heroic journey. Most of them historic non-fiction. But recently, young, up-and-coming illustrator William Grill took the challenge to tell Shakleton's story with words and pictures and he delivered the beautiful illustrated and sophisticated book for children called Shackleton's Journey. With this book Grill walks the thin and interesting line between fact and fiction.

The size and the looks of the book immediately attract attention. It is a large book (like Antarctica) and the cover is filled with an intriguing compass that is filled with figures, dogs, whales and boats. Opening the book, the reader is presented with a sea of broken ice. Throughout the book, Informative text is combined with a more descriptive style that draws the reader in. The text is accompanied with a wealth of detailed coloured-pencil drawings in Gill's distinctive style, which create a strong sense of atmosphere. As a reader, you can feel the adventure and excitement that surrounded the expedition. You can even feel the cold.

Each page layout is beautifully designed, making clever use of white space that itself seems to evoke the bleak, frozen wastelands of the Antarctic landscape. The designs mirror the setting: from the great double page spreads where the enormous space of the Antarctic landscape is evoked in cold blues and freezing white to the detailed inventories of dogs, equipment and sailors, bringing to mind the pages of a personal diary. As a lover of visual lists, I especially liked this illustrated inventories of for example all 99 of Shackleton's sled dogs or the diagrams of peculiar provisions. Carefully-researched, with lots of factual detail and a useful glossary of terms, this is an unusual, thought-provoking and very attractive work of non-fiction.

Fact? Fiction? Books like this defy such categorisation. It will transport the reader to another time and place to emerge better informed than before. But above all, the words and illustrations combine not merely to inform but to excite!

William Grill's Shackleton's Journey has made it onto the list of the New York Times' Best Illustrated Books of 2014 and won an AOI Illustration Award. Hooray!