I practised the medium of drawing as soon as I knew how to hold a pencil and I have never stopped since. It comes so naturally to me and it is also like a hobby… Incidentally, I began to learn engraving and lithography thanks to my aunt who practiced both. This is often the case for people who like to draw but I no longer practice them today because they are like a needful “little kitchen” entailing a distance between the result and the making process. I like drawing because it is direct. You draw a line and it can be very beautiful and very quickly achieved. That frank approach is identical to that of painting.

It is true that I got a lot of encouragement…But when I look at my early drawings, I do not think I was so good… you might call that virtuosity or the pleasure you feel working on a medium where you progress when you practice it a lot.

I just wanted to affirm that I am a professional artist since 2008 and before that I was an illustrator for magazines and newspapers in Belgium and Holland. When I was studying, I also made strip cartoon drawings. Therefore, in my mind I always have a story or a red line, whose main theme is attempting to recall childhood memories. I like the idea that they can be fantasized and improved or transformed by the drawing. They are very important to me because I am a bit nostalgic.

That depends and I sometimes go to my parents’ home if I want to rediscover a precise place for which they would still have a photo. When the weather is fine, I may also return there and paint in the open air. But the landscape is not necessarily the theme itself, it is more about the memory of what happened in the place I am drawing. I also use references to art history which has always been ever-present for me, because my grandfather held quite an important position in politics and was invited to the private views of exhibitions. He used to bring back catalogues and as I spent a lot of time at my grandparents’ home, I use to consult his fabulous library. The art history in my work is also in remembrance of my grandfather and my childhood.

When I was a small boy and perhaps like many children, I loved surrealism and I have remained fond of it. It is always a very intriguing artform for me. I was also in contact with classic landscapes, especially 17th century Flemish which my grandfather collected, even if at that time I did not appreciate them so much…

Yes… I do have a lot of respect for the history of painting, which is why it took me so long to paint. I always have the impression that Caravaggio and Diego Velazquez – or even Caspar David Friedrich who is part of the family – are looking over my shoulder. At the same time, I sometimes reassure myself by saying: it is only painting… But I am always intrigued by the way in which the paintings are made. I also admire neo-surrealism with artists such as Neo Rauch.

I have something like a battle going on in my head that I try to kill for that matter…as I want to produce content. I can be more conceptual or when I draw a beautiful and classic academic hand, I destroy it by tracing lines or adding graffiti. I think this combination works well for me.

I do not display a lot of social criticism but I think that climate change is one of the main issues of our time. I am not militant and want to produce beautiful things, but this message is strong in my work. Most of the time, I talk about this attention to climate through texts or make more direct pictures such as a sinking boat. Even if it is only a title, I always make something connected with climate because I am truly worried and concerned by the way we are treating the Earth at this moment in time.

No, I do not concern myself with politics, indeed the issue goes way beyond any politics. I really do have the feeling that it is going to end badly… Even if it is not the case for everyone, when many artists create their works, they ask themselves the question: is it going to leave a trace? Or do we want to become immortal through our artworks? I think what is happening in my work will, one day, turn out to be obvious….

Yes, because we cannot recapture the past, can we? Therefore, you must fabricate it and this is what I like about memories, which can become fantastic. I create atmospheres with human beings and it is true that we do not know where we are or in which era. In German, we call what is both strange and familiar “Unheimlich” … This is not necessarily pleasant to look at, but fascinating. I like that a lot…

This mask comes from a Belgian television series that I used to watch when I was a small boy, like Michaël Borremans probably, which was called THE Cat. Like a character from Batman, it was a kind of masked righter of wrongs, fighting against a factory that was dumping its waste in nature in the 1970s…. With my neighbours and friends, we had those masks and I used that childhood memory like a link, allowing me to talk about climate change once again.

Yes, of course, even more so as I have trouble sleeping which gives me a very exciting nightlife…, more exciting than my life.

Parfois, oui, mais il ne faut pas non plus s’avérer ennuyeux, donc je peux utiliser certains cauchemars seulement comme point de départ. Ils confèrent une atmosphère, avec un sentiment de danger imminent.

Yes, sometimes, but it must not turn out to be boring, so I may use some nightmares only as a starting point. They impart an atmosphere, with a feeling of impending danger.

Yes, I have made some self-portraits, let’s say it was the starting point of my professional life as an artist. It is also linked to an accident I had and which made me become aware of life and death. I date my works from the day of my birth as an artist, like a personal diary.

Firstly, these birds come from where I used to live. But the main reason why I have used them in many works - especially in the constructions which might be scenes for an imaginary theatre or an opera - is that they are the descendants of dinosaurs. They have remained very close to those bygone animals and so are still amongst us. They remind us of the Apocalypse and show themselves to be a warning about climate change. They foreworn us.

For me, the definition of drawing is much wider than before. I have very quickly covered my drawings in watercolour, so in some ways I have always painted. But they can also only be made with Indian ink or felt pens. In the beginning, I was more into small formats but I accepted that the drawing was a full-fledged work and that I can develop myself. I also work on book covers.

I do not read a lot of literature but rather non-fiction, even though I have always been very impressed by Paul Auster. In my own works, I think a lot about titles and texts as I often write. I can be inspired by existing quotes or by my “nighttime dream diaries” but I always wish to write beautifully, and tell wonderful stories.

Marie Maertens 
Février 2025