My grandmother already said in 1969 that I should become an artist. Whatever she wanted to say to me, it’s one of the first memories I have.
After a brief sponsorship by my art teacher in the 1970s, it was not until my professional orientation in the 1980s that I began to concentrate on painting without making a career out of it. The opportunity to devote time and time again to the subject offered itself to me in the mid-nineties and around the year 2005. With the focus on the essentials since 2015, I now stick to it.
I paint in oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel and appreciate the characteristics of the charcoal for quickly grasping an idea. I work on my own sketches, increasingly on foreign material (photos and film images). The preparation is often digital also using modern digital tools (AI). I work in reliefs, sculptures and sculptures in plastic or clay.
My style: Realism, Photorealism and Surrealism. Subjects: still lifes, portraits and structures. Details and proximity to the object distinguish many pictures. Special scenes often require explanation. My pictures seem realistic, partly photorealistic. Some pictures are meant to be surrealistic with a wink. To best describe my pictures and their intention, the term ‘hypernormal’ is suitable – that’s what my pictures since 2015 are meant for. Watch my statement.
I do not understand myself as an autodidact. I had many teachers, but only a few good ones. I’m not even an occasional painter because I earn my living with it. Since 2005 I am professional and financially independent, with a lot of painting time. Where I had tried it, there is now more important now for me. I am now ultimately freed from the ills of life and focused on its essentials.
I want art to remain a constant in my life. That’s why I’m working on ‘Kunst im Norden’ (art in the north), an art association based in Angeln. Here I receive constant challenges and suggestions. I find exchange with like-minded people. We colleagues help each other to follow the path we have chosen.
Born in 1964 in Uelzen, grew up in Nettelkamp and after “excursions” to Hamburg and in the province of Lower Saxony, I live, work and paint in Flensburg for several years.
Since “should” I stay too.
Jens H. Westermann