Praet Gigi

Gigi Praet is a Belgian artist, born in Stene in 1945. She is a painter and draftsman. She only made her debut at a later age, in the mid-1990s. She was educated at the Academy in Ostend (until 1999) and at the Academy in Bruges under the direction of Johan Janssens (until 2003). Initially she painted sea and coastal views, landscapes and female nudes. Later it gradually evolved into a colorful abstract design, laid out with broad strokes and in generous paint material. From the press: 'The figuration comes into its own in her sharply painted canvases when the immediately recognizable is not displayed explicitly or too clearly and it remains hidden in the mists of color. Yet the artist seems to us strongest when, for example, she works with her red tones and thus achieves a pronounced pictorial atmosphere that flatters the eye because some harmony is achieved, tensions are present and the suggestive is allowed to play its part. Her painting is clearly an act of self-affirmation. Her canvases radiate an enormous enthusiasm, the inspiration of those who have discovered something that can be accepted with full dedication. Something passionate and impetuous indeed, but also the rare gift of harmony, of knowing how far the explosion of colors can go,' (H.B., 2007) and 'Cityscapes are given a new look and in her own technique she transforms architecture into large format abstract works. Movements from the music are converted into color. Human figures, usually naked, undergo a devastating immersion in a dye bath of colors and then reappear in intriguing compositions.” Gigi Praet exhibited in the BZIO-IMBO in Ostend in 2007, in the Ryckewaertshof in Bredene in 2008, among others. in the Oude Molen van Stene in 2010,2011 and 2012. From 2008 she also participates annually in Buren bij kunsten (West Flanders). (piron)