Pieter Jennes was born in 1990 in Moltsel, Belgium and lives and works in Antwerp. Pieter graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp in 2013 with a degree in Fine Art and in 2014 with a Master's degree in Curatorial Studies from Ghent University. He works mainly in the form of oil paintings. He is represented by Gallery Sofie Van de Velde and Nino Mier Gallery. His work has been included in the collection of the Vlaamse Gemeenschap, MHKA Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, and the Belfius Collection.
From Flemish artists of the 1920s, such as Jean Brusselmans and Gustave de Smet, to the films directed by David Lynch and Werner Herzog, Pieter's paintings are richly rooted in historical references and the art history.
By combining familiar and unfamiliar images from historical genres or folklore cultures with modern everyday elements, Pieter constructs new forms of narrative painting in the contemporary context. He chooses large blocks of colors and simplified depiction of forms, while incorporating exaggerated flatness to establish multiple focal points in the drawing, thus highlighting the momentum and energy of movement expressed by the interaction between the characters. However, the lack of representation of the characters' eye details and the wearing of masks deprives the uniqueness of the narrative subject, making the concrete events an open scene in which anyone can participate, dramatizing a carnival world that strays between reality and fantasy.
On the one hand, Pieter boldly uses modern decorative patterns such as polka dots, stripes and squares, and on the other hand presents the superimposition and variation of brush strokes visibly on large-sized canvas, creating the modern visual information in the from of ancient frescoes, by returning to the original point of connection between art and life, providing an alternative narrative platform for daily life in the contemporary context.