Sailor Sculpture

My surrealistic works of art are made of iron. Forging is also a kind of sculpting. The unique figures arise between hammer and anvil. The brief heat of the coal fire demands quick action. In doing so I obtain shapes wich are more organic than stylistic. It’s a way to make thinking, for a short while, inferior to coincidence. This is very important to me in every creation. ...Jean-Luc Bertel often connects two different objects to create something new. This new reality is absurd but recognizable and contemporary. Each work deals with current reality and confronts the viewer. Often the link is made with the individual and how he or she lives today or how it deals with itself or certainspecific characteristics. The materials and the technique the artist uses are completely absorbed by the result. After all, the viewer no longer realizes that the creation was originated between hammer and anvil.The focus is primarily on the game between the two objects that are connected and the story that arises from it. All sculptures have a high cuddibility factor, but are layered in such a way that the viewer almost immediately starts looking for the message and the relationship the viewer has with it...("Absurd sculptures" K.Verbiest curator Vlask Gallery, Ghent Belgium) Jean-Luc Bertel (°1955 Tournai, Belgium) Married in 1978 with Chantal De Ruyter, proud father of two artistic children: daughter Cathy is crochet-artist () and son Mathijs is composer-performer (). Jean-Luc was initially also a musician: French horn player and conductor at the Belgian Royal military bands, composer and teacher. More recently he discovered the artistic power of sculptural art. Composition is similar to both disciplines: Music and visual art. But a piece of music is a soundsculpture limited in time. An art object is more permanently present in his space.