BIOGRAPHY

Bie Flameng

In 1973 Bie Flameng (°1953) graduated as a teacher of art and art history, and she has taught both subjects ever since. During her career she has developed her own, highly personal style of drawing.

Drawings and sketches then serve as a basis for her graphic works. She prefers digital graphics, a technique that offers her the creative solutions she needs in her continuously changing approach to reality. She likes to combine the traditional art of drawing with the virtually unlimited possibilities of the computer, which helps her make what is known as ‘free graphics’. Yet drawing itself remains an important art form in its own right for her.

In recent years Flameng’s drawing and print making have mostly been thematic, resulting in projects such as The Last Supper, Rome, Portraits, Dance and Van Eyck.

Exhibitions and recent works: www.bieflameng.be

Contact: bieflameng@gmail.com

 BIE FLAMENG ABOUT HER ART

‘I can’t imagine life without drawing. When I’m not drawing, it feels like something is physically lacking. Drawing is my natural condition, an innate urge that I sometimes curse: life would often be a lot easier without it.

Although the basis of my work is always a line drawing, I like using different styles. At the moment I’m going through a figurative stage. The challenge of its purely technical skill appeals to me: it takes me right back to my education, both in school and during the many years of self-study afterwards. The change from figurative to – for example – ‘automatic’ drawing is spontaneous – the lines start leading a completely uncontrolled life of their own. Only afterwards I try to see what can be done with them. Why I change styles I don’t know, but the people I meet and the things I do certainly play a part in the creative process.

My inspiration comes from what I see, from what happens in my life. That is always the starting point of the new reality I create. My themes are varied, and I never have to search long to find new subjects. In recent years I have worked in series: my hometown rediscovered, street dancers, portraits, impressions of Rome, Van Eyck’s symbolism. I prefer working thematically. After carefully selecting my subjects, I take the time to fully understand and study them. As soon as the drawings seem satisfactory, I turn them into digital prints, 5 to 20 per drawing.

Artists I admire, for their talent as draftsmen, their personalities, their artistic originality and their craftsmanship come from different eras and styles: Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger, Caspar David Friedrich, Peter Paul Rubens, amongst others.’