Himba-woman with oryx Print

Ellen Voets’ paintings have a highly tactile quality and could almost be called three-dimensional. Using a palette knife she applies large quantities of oil paint to the canvas with speed and precision and from the mêleé of colour an animal emerges. Her technique underlines the raw nature of her subject matter and radiates dynamism. Her expressive use of colour gives her large-scale paintings a character all of their own. The animal kingdom in all its facets has long been an inexhaustible source of inspiration to Ellen; each year she returns to Africa on safari. Her paintings really capture animals as they are in the wild, camouflaged and difficult to spot at first sight. Looking at one of her paintings is just like driving through a game park: what seems to be undergrowth turns out to be an animal on careful examination. Groups of animals hold a particular fascination for Ellen: the power of a herd of African elephants, the social behaviour of a family of monkeys, or the watchfulness of a lioness guarding her cubs at play. Her distinctive broad strokes enable Ellen to convey, for example, the majestic quality of the elephant and its unique skin structure, with neutral grey replaced by bright multidimensional colour. Recently Ellen has directed her attention towards the elegant body language of horses, whose dynamic mobility capture the imagination. Not grazing horses, but a four-in-hand in the heat of the race or wild horses at full gallop coming straight at the spectator, so lifelike that one involuntarily takes a step backwards. Also of late the human form has re-entered her paintings, though always in relation to animals: a jockey on his horse, an African warrior alongside a surprised zebra, a camel with its driver. Many art lovers are enthralled by the playful way in which Ellen’s paintings seem to come alive and have grown to much appreciate the special quality of her work, which combines accessibility with a rare sense of mysticism