I gave an interview in the art magazine The Artella Daily News with some challenging answers about art. I was invited to participate in an interview for the art magazine The Artella Daily Muse. So, if you’re interested in a somewhat different interview then usual about art or the artist, then this interview might be nice for you to read. Thursday, June 14th, 2007 Thursday's Artist Profile: Jan G. Marque Daily Muse: How would you describe your art?    Jan Marque: I call my art Philosophical Realism. It's a form of art where word and image is combined, and where the meaning of the subject is as important as the image. So what you see must look great, but it also must mean something. DM: Tell us more...    Jan: The interaction between the combination of word and image is a means to get to the subjects. This means that the subject itself is not depicted or entitled, as in a normal painting. Normally a title explains the image. I don’t use titles. DM: What is your favourite piece of your own art? Why?    Jan: I think my three-headed Janus paintings. Janus the old Roman god who could see in the past, present and future. Why? Because the universe vibrates, and all knowledge becomes timeless once it is out in the open, and the three-headed Janus is my personification of these ideas. DM: What people, places, or things inspire you most?    Jan: I don’t think inspiration exists, only an ability that combines and transforms memories to new ideas. The bigger the ability, the more "inspiration" you get. So I only need to feed my head with information. I travel a lot, visit cities, meet different people of different continents, do a lot of research for my subjects. So the inspiration lies in all that. As long as I keep the flow of information going, then I’ll always have "inspiration." DM: What does your studio or creative workspace look like?    Jan: In my earlier years, it was an almost empty room filled with canvases of all sizes, paint spatters everywhere of my many experiments, and an old desk to write at. Over the years that followed, I found my paint-recipe and my style was formed. So now my studio looks like a living room with a huge bookcase, a nice desk with a computer, my easel and paint, and some furniture, where our two dogs, Einstein and Bart lounge. Very pleasant. DM: How do you organize your art supplies?    Jan: I’ve limited my pigments paint to only ten colours. So I’ve created a shelf in my bookcase where I mix my paint, and where I have some pots with pencils, cloths and turpentine. All the other stuff I need not so often I put on the attic. DM: What art supply can you not live without?    Jan: That would be my paint, canvas, and pencils of course, my books and computer for my research, but also paper and a pen for my writings. Eh, everything in my studio! DM: What favourite book(s) can you recommend?    Jan: That depends. On art I can recommend Matthew Craske’s Art in Europe 1700-1830. This book gives a far better insight into Romanticism then the normal art history books. And if you're interested in the genealogy of the human race, I can recommend all the books of Laurence Gardner, especially Genesis of the Grail Kings. DM: What is your favourite charity, volunteer interest, or cause?    Jan: On a larger scale: I like my brain, so I would like to be involved in the future to help cure Alzheimer's. On a middle scale: I was president of the student council and president of a party-commission in high school that helped by selling books and gave paintings to auctions for charity. On a more personal level: To hold a figurative mirror in the faces of some people I talk to. DM: What movie(s) do you consider your favourite(s)?    Jan: Wow, there are a lot.... Pulp Fiction, Donnie Darko, Star Wars, The Crow, Lord of the Rings, Highlander, Gladiator, War of the Worlds, Saving Private Ryan, Alexander, Master and Commander, Troy, Sky Captain and the World of Tommorow, King Arthur, Der Untergang; but also, Underworld, Vanilla Sky, Fight Club, The Boondock Saints, American Psycho, and others... DM: What music do you love to hear while you’re creating?    Jan: Depends on my mood. Sometimes I like it to be quiet, and other times I want the singers to scream for me. So you can think of Placebo, The Doors, The Sheila Divine, The Cure, Linkin Park, Depeche Mode, The (older) Moody Blues, Nirvana, Bush, Pearl Jam, Radiohead, P.J. Harvey, Jeff Buckley, and a lot more alternative music; but also David Sylvian, Tori Amos, Marillion, Beethoven, Satie, Mozart, and a few more. DM: What is your favourite quote?    Jan: One of my own; "Good and evil doesn’t exist, only the perception of reality." DM: Who is, or has been, your mentor, favourite teacher, or favourite artist?    Jan: All deceased master painters of Realism. I can look at one of their paintings and dissect it with my eyes. I understand the composition, form, technique, mixture of the paint, layers etc. DM: Do you have an upcoming project or event you’d like to share? (If yes, please include details.)    Jan: No. I’ve been hospitalized twice last year, and I’m still recovering from it. So I must take it easy this year. I’ll survive by the way. DM: What is your number one tip for budding artists?    Jan: The modern art ‘movement’ wants us to believe that art is only the concept. Even someone’s style is considered a concept by now. And because of that most people nowadays really think that they must interpret for themselves what they think they’re looking at. This is a misconception. I wrote my Art Wars saga to confront people with it.    All the known art of Realism, even the art of the beginning of what we now claim to be as modern art, was made from a meaning, a philosophy, and that these thoughts and words triggered the artists to make what they did. This means that this art contains theory. You can also say this artwork exists partially out of theory.    So make art from, and with, a meaning, a philosophy and most of all, propagate it. Don’t be afraid to stand up to, what I call, the despotic arts of what is still called "Modern" art. Be as the real Romantic artists: be a nonconformist, and bring back meaning to the arts.    And why? That’s the real tip--because people are waking up, and beginning to search again for the meaning in the arts. And if you make art out of a theory, a philosophy which you believe in, then afterwards your piece will be filled with it, and people can notice the difference between a wallpaper illustration and art. DM: What favorite "quickie recipe" for creating a piece would you like to share?    Jan: Well, for a "Modern" piece I would say, it doesn’t matter, because everything you can see is already reduced to art. But if you’re serious, I can recommend this: Paint a canvas black and let it dry. Then with the use of only three colors, English red, Orange and White, paint a landscape. First you sketch with English red the whole scene, then you mix and highlight it with orange, and then you can mix with White for the very bright spots. This is an experiment to experience what I call: "self-created light," and it helps you understand light in general. DM: What are suggestions you can offer for moving through creative "blocks"?    Jan: Like I said before, I don’t believe inspiration" exists, so gather information and see how great your ability is to combine and transform your memories into new ideas DM: What tips do you have for building a professional art career (i.e.,creating a portfolio or working with a gallery)?    Jan: In this post-post-Modern age of mostly "dead" art it is more about entertainment and the ability you have to show your work everywhere for the soul purpose of getting well known. So, do just that. First of all make a website with good pictures, lay out, easy to use, etc. Give up your copyright for illustrative purposes. More people will download it. Then, make a good portfolio and business cards. Make sure your paintings are framed (the same.) Have postcards with your work to give away for free. The place where people see your work reflects you and your work. So, as a professional artist, don’t show your work everywhere--not in hospitals, elderly homes, art markets, etc. Do not spend money on internet competitions or when you have to pay a big amount to a gallery. See if a gallery sells, before you go to pay and exhibit there (mind your costs). Don’t sign any contract if the only one that really benefits from it is the gallery, art dealer, etc. Know art history, because most people, even galleries and competitions, will judge your work only by style/concept. (Unless you aren't bothered when people say to you what you’re making.) But like I said earlier, make art with meaning and philosophy, and propagate it. DM: If you teach, how has that affected you own artwork?    Jan: The way my students look at my work is sometimes interesting, but it hasn’t affected my work. DM: What do you do for rest and relaxation?    Jan: I walk in the woods with my wife and dogs, go to second-hand bookstores, or go to the movies. DM: If you could go back in time and have lunch with anyone, who would you chose?    Jan: Only one? Hmmmm, okay, one group. I think the Anunnaki. I would ask them: "Are you really our....?" and, "Do you know what alchemy did to us?" DM: "The Waltz of Words, Art, and Spirit" is Artella’s motto. How does that apply to your work?    Jan: Philosophical Realism combines word and image so you can search for the subject if you like. And by so doing, you’re travelling with a Waltz of words and images, where you may find your spirit reflected, which is hidden in the work of art.    About Jan Marque in his own words: I was born in 1968, and from the beginning of my artistry I combined word and image to propagate the meaning of the different subjects. I accomplished it through my photography-art and pen and ink drawings. But because the drawings took up a lot of time to finish I started to look at another medium.    From 1996 I have put aside my pen and camera to focus completely on the medium of oil paint. This self-study resulted in multiple experiments of materials and the application of it, a study of pigments, oils, resins, additives, grounds, and tools. These first steps were followed by the different paint recipes and making paint. All these things were time consuming but necessary occupations, which led to the final results as I present them to you today.    I decided at the age of nineteen not to go to an academy, but to search my way as a born artist myself. Already when I was eight years old, I was drawing outside and got educated by artists I met. As a result of this, I got my first exhibition at the age of eleven. In 1989 I decided to become a professional artist. Ever since that time I have exhibited my work over 60 times in the Netherlands and Germany, and several galleries represented me at art events in the Netherlands. In addition, I was chosen twice for the finale-selection-day of the worldwide contest of Art-link International and Sotheby's; and in 2003, I had a totally subsidized museum exhibition for six months with a retrospective exhibition, which is still available on the Internet.    If you would like to contact me, see more of my work, or to have more information about my Philosophical Realism, then feel free to visit my website at: www.jan-marque.com. © Artella 2007 All rights reserved. This interview appeared in The Artella Daily Muse, a daily online newspaper published by Artella Sign up for a FREE two-day subscription of The Artella Daily Muse at: http://www.artellawordsandart.com/members.html Jan G.Marque © Terug naar Theorieën CONTACT Het witte poeder goud van de Annunaki en de oorsprong van de Alchemie, Jan G. Marque 2006.