I am Gisela Boleij and I'm a painter

‘Playing with reality by composing with figures’

My paintings can be recognised by a bright use of colour and figurative depictions. I draw inspiration from everyday things and situations where the woman and her image is usually the main subject.

I look for images among old photographs and magazines. These find their way into the painting where the present and the past are intertwined and tell a whole new story.

As a child my days were filled with reading, drawing and doing arts and crafts projects.

I used my creativity to help bring my fantasies come to life. From a young age I loved observing the world around me and expressing myself through drawing and painting. Projects I worked on were comics, short stories and my own magazine. Eventually I graduated from an art academy where I studied drawing and painting.

I love magnifying certain aspects of my favorite subjects: people and animals.

Other times I place a frame onto the subject, like a snapshot to tell a story. My work is recognizable by my unusual cut outs, which causes alienation. Topics such as longing for times gone by seem to spill over into longing for the unattainable. Seemingly lovely scenes thus take on a double meaning. This contradiction invites the viewer to give an entirely unique meaning to the work. Through my paintings I want to evoke emotions and feelings and offer comfort.

I love reading, traveling, music, nostalgic photographs and movies, walking though a forest, observing people, the smell after the rain, getting moved by art or music, graphic novels, chocolate, freshly washed bedsheets, Thai and Italian food.

I live and work in a village in Noord Brabant in the south of the Netherlands.

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© Gisela Boleij 2024