Eefje Van den Brande

The artist lives and works in Heusden-Zolder.

In her paintings, Eefje Van den Brande always starts from an ink blot on which she lets her imagination loose. She wants to play with the image, using various techniques and layers. A mix of ecoline, acrylic and oil paint always produces surprising results.

Emotion is the thread that runs through her oeuvre. Where she used to paint twisted bodies and colourful animals or creatures, in her series from 2020 to the present they seem to come together in fantasy figures. To render these images, she takes up the challenge with herself. The stranger the image the more fascinating. What seems recognisable at first, turns out not to be so on closer inspection.

Throughout the years, people, animals, fantasy creatures and also self-portraits have alternated. The figures seem to undergo a complete transformation. When Eefje paints, she is always looking for the limit of recognisability in the figure. In this way, the artist gives shape to the deformity and the image acquires a surrealistic touch.