Polish Rabbit Painting

Painter and sculptor Nanouk Weijnen grew up in Velp, Noord- Brabant, at the Friesian horses stud farm of her parents. This way and by her father beeing a judge of Friesian horses, she learned to look objectively to all animals at an early age, searching for the right shapes and proportions of these savage and simultaneously graceful looking animals. It is not surprising that she, after her training at the academy in Tilburg, grazed monumental paintings to this animal. During her career she has been further increasing painting (agriculture) animals and pets, such as rabbits, chickens, cows and dogs. In time she began painting native wildlife and occasionally an exotic animal, like a lion from a zoo. Weijnen is convinced that animals play a much bigger part in our lives than we realize. People surround themselves with animals, but at the same time the distance between humans and animals has increased. With her work she wants to pay tribute to the animals and create a platform for raising awareness. It bothers her that animals are being used as merchandise in a ruthless manner. The work of Weijnen is all about the emotion that an animal evokes. She tries to bring the animal to life by crawling in its skin and in this way giving a face to the quirky character of it. She prefers studying a proud English fighting bantam with a fine physique and long legs, than an ordinary hen. The pig often seems the underdog of the animal kingdom, it is seen as lazy and unclean. Weijnen more sees it as a moving and fascinating subject, a pig is an intelligent, social and curious creature. As an artist Nanouk uses the camera as a sketchbook, with a trained eye she takes her time to register the specific nature of the animal. At one glance through her lens she sees a suitable posture or a human expression, she sometimes waits for a long time for the right moment. With the carefully chosen pictures she goes to work in her atelier. Her method is very labor-intensive. She wants to know the animals well and studies them thoroughly. The animals are being portrayed perfect and in large format, thru this the viewer is coming so close to the animals that it’s becoming an individual with recognizable emotions and traits. By this extreme humanization of animals derives the work identity and meaning. The works have a critical impact about the absurdity which is dealt with animals in the west.