06 january 2023, Manuela Klerkx
Jean De Groote: Painter of the Great in the Small
One could say that Belgian painter Jean De Groote (1955) paints the silence that comes with the essence of things. And he does so based on the most ordinary and everyday objects, which he strips of all trappings and frills to paint only the essence - the thing itself - or, as the artist says, the 'self-so-ness' of an object. In his essay 'The Painter of Silence', Rik Corijn puts it as follows: 'Like a chemist, he [Jean De Groote, ed.] distils paint and canvas into the real gold of this screaming century: silence.' Using powerful brushstrokes, thick layers of paint and dramatic shadows, De Groote paints beauty in its purest form. Thus, the smallest things like a rusty nail become icons of beauty and symbols of silence in all their nakedness and imperfection.
MK Where does your interest in art come from and have you always wanted to be an artist?
JDG I attended the art academy and graduated after six years – summa cum laude – with a degree in Graphic Design. From that moment on, I saw my childhood dream – to become an art education teacher – come true. And yes, I always wanted to be an artist. Later, I attended a four-year programme in Art Sciences at the University of Ghent.
MK You eventually became a painter. How would you describe your painting style?
JDG I am an essential painter, a minimalist. I make paintings of a very philosophical nature from small to very large in size. The goal of my work is to evoke wonder and questions, rather than spectacle. Beauty is secondary, truthfulness is the essence. In my works, things ‘become’ and acquire what I call a ‘zelfzoheid’ (roughly translatable as ‘itselfness’).
Jean De Groote, Rood geknoopt draadje, 2020, Gallery Sofie Van den Bussche
MK How important are elements like light and dark, colour, enlargement or reduction to your work?
JDG All these elements are relevant as long as they don't add anything extra. They do not serve to add value to the painting. I only use colour – and very little at that – if it is part of the essence of the object and therefore of the painting. Spatiality is a very important component of my work. For example, I always work with the same incidence of light – from the right – and always in my studio. The objects I use are models. I rarely employ a narrative or base my work on fiction. My works are about existing, pure things, usually painted against a white background.
MK In your paintings of, for example, a nail, shoe or branch, it seems as if you are looking for the special in the ordinary in the act of looking itself and you try to represent it as such. Your painting technique and the absence of a narrative component suggest that. Is that right?
JDG That's absolutely right. I always start from scratch. One of the objects in my studio catches my attention and I become that object as it were, I coincide with it. I can contemplate for hours in my studio, looking for the essence of that specific object. To get to the essence, I have to identify with the object, crawl into it, 'read', 'hear' and feel it. So, tactility is extremely important. My object must be able to reveal itself completely, not as a mimesis or photograph, but with an emphasis on the tangible. Hence the pasty character of my paintings.
MK If you were to compare your painting to sound, what would we hear or would there be complete silence?
JDG Philosophising, meditating, contemplating is best done in silence. My paintings are like keyholes: small openings that provide access to the great unknown world of pure beauty. It is only in this way that you can understand the value of an object like a nail (nail).
Jean De Groote, Blauwe nagel, 2019, Gallery Sofie Van den Bussche
MK In an article for the online magazine Kunstmagazine, Stef Van Bellingen writes: 'At the very least, Jean De Groote still finds a challenge in the realisation of art as a mirror in which the relationship between man and the universe is reflected.' What do you think of that statement and can you comment on it?
JDG My ultimate drive, experience, even goal is to find the answer to who am I, what am I, and what is happening, what is the very being underlying the surface. How do I relate to the object, the subject, what can I know and see and how can I see and know this? Hence my daily encounters with philosophers like Sartre, Heidegger, Wittgenstein. I am not a storyteller; I look for simplicity around me in my own vault, in my monk's cell.
MK You come from a country of great painters, so it is not easy to be unique. Yet you seem to succeed at just that, especially because of the philosophical thoughts that accompany your paintings. How are these reflected in your work? Can you give an example?
JDG VMany of my art colleagues – almost all of them in fact – copy their predecessors or paint in the style of a well-known artist such as Tuymans or Borremans. I never did. For more than forty years, I have felt the urge to develop my own unique visual language based on my philosophical search for the essence, the origin of my thinking and painting. Stories are for writers or narrative painters. At times, I am more of a thinker than a painter, but just as often the other way around. There are two certainties about my work: I am a pure painter and I am not a writer. I start every working day with these two pieces of information. Firstly, I prepare and think about the paint and objects surrounding me, and at some point, as time goes by, all these elements come together on the canvas. The canvas is only finished when I reach the moment when I can no longer find the words to formulate what unfolds before my eyes.
MK How do you feel about the internet in relation to painting?
JDG The internet is very important because I find a lot of information online, which in turn allows me to quickly learn a lot about something without surrounding myself with books. I look up dissertations, texts, reviews, etc. that I don't have on paper. Photos tell me less and rather distract me.
Jean De Groote, Gouden klosje, 2021, Gallery Sofie Van den Bussche
MK Which artists have influenced you to date?
JDG All the greats in modern and contemporary art history: Cézanne, Courbet, Duchamp, Klee, Kandinsky, Yves Klein, Beuys… Basically the icons, those who have triggered something, created a shift or caused a rift in Western art history. I personally try to achieve a certain uniqueness in my work, not so much to be unique, but to respect and shape my personality, my being..
MK What are your plans for the future?
JDG Like most of us, I want to be recognised and appreciated, to show who I am and what I make, and explain this if necessary. Preferably this will take place through strong presentations, events or in places where I can meet like-minded people or those who are passionate about my work.
