JanKé

When you think of portraits, think of portraits of people and a good portrait exposes the soul of the model. The eyes are very determinative and where do you find very penetrating eyes... in the animal kingdom. In this collection Jan Keteleer paints penetrating portraits of animals and always puts the emphasis on the eyes. The eyes of these animals look at you penetratingly and make you modest because who can resist these eyes. They are beautiful paintings to hang for example in your office or entrance hall so that your visitors are immediately impressed.

You'd be surprised how many animals appear in dreams. There are more animals than people on our planet and we'd better respect them, especially now that the climate is changing and our biodiversity is under pressure. Ever since the beginning of mankind people have been depicting animals or, think of the cave drawings and how they portrayed them in ancient Egypt. Also in the bible a climate change is described and how they secure a flock of every kind of animals to be able to continue later on. The works of Jan Keteleer are based on this story.

Animals are more honest than people, you hear. But are animals also friendlier than people? Yes, Jan Keteleer thinks so, just like people, each in their own way. Of course every animal has its instinct and a lion can't help being a lion and having to hunt andeer game. Many don't see many friendly traits in such a predator but it's just how you look at it. Surround that lion or tiger with flowers, then you get a completely different feeling. Or give that heavy, huge elephant wings of a butterfly... and it can suddenly fly. Isn't that right?

That there is a climate change in progress is certain. There has been more climate change since the birth of the earth and it may well be that this is now also a process driven by nature or it may also be that mankind has caused this since the industrial revolution. This is a discussion between believers and non believers. What is certain is that in the past and now the animal kingdom will always be under pressure as a result. This is what this collection is about The animals are on the run to survive. Whose fault this is, is food for discussion but that the animals are the victims of it is a fact.

Animals do not belong in captivity but should live in the wild. A zoo is fun and good to make studies for the preservation of animals that would otherwise be threatened with extinction; even horses are better off in the wild than under a saddle. Let the animals live in unspoiled nature! This will make our world a better place to survive. In this series of paintings Jan Keteleer takes the thread with an old art form namely painting animals in their natural environment so that people who could not travel could also get acquainted with it.