‘Hieron Pessers (1939-2004) started painting at age 36 – after a successful career in fashion. In the remaining thirty years of his life he created an oeuvre of 36 paintings. Each of these took almost a year to complete. Almost without exception his canvases are large, to very large: dimensions of two by two-and-a-half meters are not uncommon. They are all painted with great attention to detail, elaborately framed and often preceded by extensive (photo) study.
The 1970s when Pessers started his painting career were the heydays of conceptual, minimalistic and fundamental art. But Hieron wanted realism. His aim was to represent the world in images that were as precise as possible. He loved the beauty of baroque art – and recognized that beauty also in what we have come to call ‘kitsch’. With their elaborate frames his paintings almost become baroque objects.
Inspired initially by Magic Realist painters in the 1930s his interest shifted gradually to the great masters of the 18th century: Goya, Fragonard. In their paintings he recognized to what extent the horrors and festivities of this world are interconnected. As an accomplished clown he hid the sadness of the world in representations with lots of comic and popular details.
Hieron Pessers died in Antwerp in 2004. After his death a number of friends took the initiative to create a Hieron Pessers Foundation and make this website with information about his paintings and the creative process involved; his career in fashion; exhibitions and publications about the artist and his work.
Source: Liesbeth Brandt Corstius: Opening speech Exhibition ‘Hieron Pessers: La Dolce Vita’ (see: publications). Museum ‘Het Nijenhus’/De Fundatie’; 23rd March 2013
