Flowering love for life
Sylvia BollĂŠ, 47, born in Etterbeek (Brussels), proud mother of Max (16) and Vita (4). After more than 40 moves, from Brussels to Bangkok through Bokrijk, she is now living in Hasselt. Granddaughter of Martin BollĂŠ (1912-1968), painter, laureate of the Prix de Rome in 1940.
Every girl paints and draws, "my first professional paintbox I bought when I was 17 at Schleiper's in Brussels with a cheque I received after the sale of a work by my deceased grandfather".
My colours.
"The poppy was the first flowering
I remarked in Brussels...later on I encountered the same flower everywhere I traveled."
The poppy arises out of a tiny seed and water, some food but not much, pops up, appears.
Pure magic it is, for it grows
in places
where nothing else thrives.
Delicate, fragile,
bending on top of a long stem.
as if it is a butterfly or a small bird, bending in the wind.
Explosions of creativity and fragility in a mechanical world. Also the true symbol for the constantly surviving vital urge, notwithstanding the harshness of life.
Always and once more surfacing, this vivid red poppy kiss.
The artist in me is looking for life and has chosen the poppy, the simple poppy, as a symbol for her view of life.
I always return, conjugate and inflect
'Mes coquelicots journaliers' My daily poppies
the subject matter at my discretion,
as a classical painting on the wall,
but also as a happening during an action painting event, when painting becomes part of a public act and the poppy takes over the street. Life action chocolate painting 2 by 6 meters October 2011
The poppy symbolizes flowering optimism, in vivid red colours with a black heart, present where not expected.
Appearing through different artistic shapes, sometimes realistic,
sometimes reduced to a fleeting schematic represention as seen from a moving car or bike.
First co-production Piet Stockmans and Sylvia BollĂŠ: "Let's poppy-t up", a limited edition of 100 upgraded seed bombs.
The seed-bomb, gorged with poppy seeds, provided with a porcelain cap made by Piet Stockmans, resting in a wooden box on a hand-made and signed instruction paper by Sylvia BollĂŠ, practically ready for use.
Contrary to Andy Warhol's "Flowers" these poppies do not symbolize death, but celebrate life in all its shapes. They are no cut flowers dying on their stem in the midst of a bouquet, but merry flowers telling you: "look, here we are, look at us but do not pick us. Look how beautiful we are in our bright colours in which we can work magic and transmit you a message of love. Love transforming death, needle and thread, seed and flower. Life continues, it never stops." Be it a porcelain book that has to be broken to read the message hidden by the artist, or the umpteenth form of the same painted poppy, the core is similar: creativity hides in a concealed, secret well. The producer of a work of art has to keep the well from drying up, but also needs to visit it regularly, for creativity has to live on. A torn but necessary choice, both for Piet Stockmans as for Sylvia BollĂŠ. The fragile magic of art, that is the question...
Flowering love for life.
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