Illustrating unexisting stories

<p><strong>The beginning.</strong></p><p>At first, there was theatre. As an actor, I gave body and voice to characters in discordant situations. I played parts, sometimes in self-made stories, sometimes in repertoire plays.</p><p>This activity resonates in my drawings. While drawing, I become the illustrator of stories that have not been put into words, that don&rsquo;t really exist. Figures are involved in dramatic dialogues with either themselves or with others. Bodies are ambiguous, unfinished, melted, and seem to derive from an interrupted metamorphosis.&nbsp;No naturalism, instead: a theatre of dreams.</p><p><img width="100%" alt="" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/503934/l_arriv_e_des_d_goutants-1522998894.jpg" /></p><p>L&#39;arriv&eacute; des d&eacute;goutants</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Titles</strong></p><p>I give titles to the drawings. Sometimes in Dutch, sometimes in French, sometimes in English. By doing so, I take them out of the domain of the strictly pictorial, and place them in a literary context. In fact, these titles work in the same way as the title of a play or a novel does. And since the stories in this case are &ldquo;non-existing,&rdquo; they can be invented by the viewer. I consider my titled drawings as prints in an ever-expanding cabinet of prints.</p><p><img width="100%" alt="" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/504521/levenslang_leren-1523167574.jpg" /></p><p>The philosopher remembers Caligari</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Medium and method of working</strong></p><p>The drawings originate in photographs I took, or physical drawings I made (with pencil, ink, gouache, aquarelle) and scanned into the computer. Then, I start working digitally. I use a simple Wacom drawing pad and Gimp, the freeware program for image editing. When I consider a work finished, I have it printed in a specialized photography shop. Generally, I opt for German Etching paper from Hahnem&uuml;hle. It&rsquo;s a nicely structured paper of 310 grams.</p><p>The drawings I will show mid-June, have more or less the same size as my computer screen. A maximum of 41 centimeters in height or width.</p><p>Of course, looking at a drawing on a computer screen (a light source) is very different from seeing the same work printed with ink on paper. I often need to make digital adaptations in contrasts and/or light, and then get it printed again.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>My exhibition opens on June 17:</p><p><strong>Illustrating Unexisting Stories</strong></p><p>Gallery &ldquo;In Den Bouw&rdquo;, Zomerstraat 85, 9270 Kalken (Laarne), Belgium</p><p><a href="http://www.indenbouw.be/">www.indenbouw.be</a>. Email:&nbsp;<a>[email protected]</a>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><img width="100%" alt="" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/505001/1_2016k-dbouw1-0314-2_med-1523083335-1523280367.jpeg" /></p><p>photo:&nbsp;Marianne Matthys</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>