Nel Maertens

Nel Maertens graduated in 2019 as a master in fashion at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. Besides projects in applied art (textile and costume design), Maertens focuses on an autonomous fine art practice. She is a multidisciplinary artist and likes to engage in cross-sectoral collaborations.

‘I explore color, composition, material, writing and energy in my drawing and painting practice. My work results from an intense process in which the boundaries between the process of creation, conceptualization and realization often blur.

I often work “en-plein-air”, yet the representation of the landscape is primarily a way of conceiving all kinds of other narratives. I mainly aim to create an illusion, to evoke other meanings. At first view, my work appears to be very diverse. Yet the speed with which I draw and put an image on paper is characteristic. I often work with oil stick, oil pastel and soft pastel on paper or cardboard: materials that are characterized by their manageability, directness and typically quick markings that favor the “gesture”.