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Antwerpse kunstschi!lder Jef Diels

Diels Jef

Jef Diels is a  painter born in Antwerp in 1952. Education at the Academy in Antwerp (1970-1975) as a student of Vik and Willem Dolphyn. Mainly paints still lifes. From 1980 regularly exhibits in Antwerp. From the press: "This fine painter has written cutting-edge craft knowledge in his coat of arms." Mentioned in BAS I Two centuries of signatures of Belgian artists. (PIRON)

After his studies, he mainly focused on painting still lifes in oil. His subjects are contemporary but painted in the seventeenth century tradition. He uses brushes of sable hair almost exclusively and only those of the sable's tail. This is to see as few, if not none, brush strokes as possible. In this way you get the effect of what was called 'beau fini' at the end of the 17th century. The main basis of his technique is the monochrome underpainting, i.e. with very little color. The intention is to achieve a performance that is fully elaborated in light and dark, without paying much attention to the color. This comes in the next phase (after proper drying) so that the light and dark shine through and are filtered. This creates a kind of 'church window effect'. The composition of the painting medium is very important in this respect, both for the underpainting and for the following layers. This medium consists of strictly accurately measured amounts of drying oils and mostly self-made resin solutions. Over the years, Jef Diels has had twenty solo exhibitions, both at home and abroad, and has been nominated several times. (https://www.artrevisited.com/nl/informatie/kunstenaars/jef-diels)