|
Checkers
Main Page
Checkers Stategy
Checkers of
Past Eras
Checkers Champions
of the 20th Century
Checkers Champions
of The 21st Century
The Future of Checkers
Checkers Around
The World
Checkers Variations
Fundamentals of Checkers
Checkers Photo Album
Checkers Art
The Sport of Checkers
Checker Postcards
Checkered Past
Afternoon Checkers
Checkers
Glossary
Checkers Terms
Literature on Checkers
Checkers Poems
Checkers Strategy
Checkers Words of Wisdom
Wiswell's Checkers Proverbs
Checkers Philosophy
Angels
Pottery
|
Game Of Checkers
Checkers Artist Geneviève Van der Wielen
Geneviève Van der Wielen
1954-present
Verviers, Province of Liège
Belgium
Jeu de Dames
The Checkers Game
- She was raised in a bourgeois family and received a strict, conservative education.
- From 1972-1975, Geneviève studied art at the Institut Supérieur des Beaux Arts Saint-Luc or the Academy/Higher Institute of Fine Arts at Saint-Luc; in 1978, she was the recipient of the Darchis Bursary which allowed her to study Romantics in Italy for three months.
- Van der Wielen is an original and talented artist who has developed diverse techniques in a variety of media such as oil, pastel and acrylic as well as drawing in monotype black and white which allows her to give her themes a great deal of flexibility and an overall soft touch.
- Geneviève draws by instinct and intuition, using no models as inspiration.
“I begin with a blank piece of paper and then I will draw from my head and erase until a picture magically evolves. The story and ideas evolve out of the design. It is not pre meditated. I do not use models. I take that drawing and I make a painting out of it. I allow the flaws to remain and above all, I strive to “be myself” when I paint. My art does seem to flow out now…after years and years of struggling and practicing the craft.” Van der Wielen creates her imagery from an independence loyal only to her own beliefs and talents and claims no affiliation with any particular school of artistic thought or style.
- The inspiration for her artistic themes is drawn from her own life experiences and from observation of the world around her; her motifs display both the beauty and ugliness within people, strengths and weaknesses of humanity, genre scenes that tell a story about social truths, hypocrisy, sexual domination and religious ideas blended with comedy or tragedy.
- She offsets the harshness of some of these depictions with humor and allegory using as illustration the contradictions in life; her motifs represent a world of young maidens, teens dressed as angels and cupids, women with young children and husbands or simply, a lovers plot; each scene depicts the harsh realities of life such as drugs, suicide, grief or loneliness but they are juxtaposed to a smile, a seductive look or a suggested atmosphere.
- As in the Checkers Game painting, the female faces resemble each other as well as the artist.
- The game of checkers is depicted in a clear linear design, developed by simple forms and bold colors, yet the mood displays an express of sensitivity in the portrayal of the figures.
- Though the faces don’t display a lot of emotion, their postures speak volumes about the nature of the checkers game, especially with the right female figure posed to make her next checker move; her opponent appears rather nonchalant as it would seem that she is winning the game of checkers, noted by the number of checker pieces next to the checkerboard.
- Viewers can easily identify with the leisurely moment shown in this every day genre scene.
|
|
CHECKERS CHEST
Two Player