ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Jan Hermans, Magician with pincel, airbrush and technical pen
Painting and drawing from imagination, but nevertheless just like real
Magic in two dimensions, with a technical edge...
That's how one might describe the work of Jan Hermans
Jan Hermans was born in Vlaardingen, The Netherlands, on april 17th. 1962
as the grandson of the well-known painter and aquarell artist
Jozef Alphons Schrijnder, who is famous from his hunting scenes and typical Dutch landscapes
Jan has been drawing ever since his 5th year and has never stopped since.
His fascination lies in the world of fairytales and that of technique, both worlds are
joined, integrated and elaborated with special care
The technical world is expressed by the theme of flow of fluids and light,
and by the use of technical methods such as airbrush and technical pen,
which allows for an optimal control of line size and point thickness,
enabling an almost perfect control over the end result on the graphical drawing
Also other modern tools like photography and airbrush are embraced,
if they support the end result
The themes of Jans' work seem to be drawn from fairytales: dragon portraits,
egrets, "fluid perspectives", and models in a constructed landscape,
where the lightfall is adapted to match that on the model.
RELEVANT EDUCATION, ACTIVITIES AND EXHIBITIONS
Jan Hermans painting the work "Smoke and Ashes" in mixed techniques on wood
1975-1981 (Highschool period)
* Orientation on various techniques,
perspective and graphical work
1980-1987 (Study in Chemical Engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology)
* First work in oil paint on canvas
* Starting with painting of portraits
* Drawing of the series "fluid perspectives", a series of graphical drawings.
* Active as member and member of the board of the society for Photography "Dekate Mousa" in Eindhoven
(including participation in many exhibitions of photographical work)
* Important contribution to the design of the flyers and programs of musical performances of the ESMG in Eindhoven
* Member of the Ehibition Committee of Studium Generale, at the University of Technology in Eindhoven
with contributions to the exhibitions/cycli:
- "Informative labelling" (about the EU regulations on food labelling)
- "Best wel trend" about trends in lifestyle, fashion, music and art
* Permanent exhibition of work in the restaurant of the faculty
of Chemical Engineering (University of Technology in Eindhoven)
* Design of the posters, flyers and program leaflets for the symposium
"Investing in the Dutch Chemical Industry"
1985-1999
* Start using the airbrush and discovering its potential, especially combined with other techniques
* Active in photography, especially model photography and travel stories
* Participation in the movie "Murder in the Mensa" by Emiel de Jong
including playing a few side-characters, designing the poster and flyers,
and "leaders", in Eindhoven
* Design of the title image of the dance and music performance "Dreamlands" in Eindhoven
* Participation in an exhibition in the Algarve, Portugal, (with airbrush work)
1999-now
* Starts up the website "the Digital Gallery" together with fellow artists
Jan van Gogh and Rita Molona Boertien
"The Digital Gallery" was set up as a non-profit website for the presentation
of art work on the Internet
* Design and presentation of various technical presentations, in Wuerzburg, Duesseldorf (Germany),
Vaexjoe (Sweden), Prague (Czech Republic), Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Edinburgh (Scotland, UK),
Columbus (OH USA), and Montpellier (France), around the melting technology of glass in general
and the melting technology of TV-glass in particular.
* Active in the organisation of a meeting point for culture, art, science and philosophy
"Trefpunt 3" (meeting point 3) in The Hague, the Netherlands
* 2000: Exhibition "Fluid Perspectives"
(graphical work and airbrush) in "Trefpunt 3", The Hague
* 2001-2002: Exhibition of drawings in the restaurant "Royal Palace Garden"
in Grants Pass OR, USA (organized by Dennis Pelliccia)
* Aug-okt 2002: Exhibition "Jan Hermans, Magician with imaging techniques"
at the foundation "Ander Werk" in Geldrop, The Netherlands
* September 2002: Participation in the yearly exhibition of the "Geldropse Vrijetijdsschildersschool"
in Geldrop, The Netherlands
* September 2002: Participation in the opening/ exhibition of work of Jan van Gogh in the Riverside Inn, Grants Pass OR, USA
* March 2003: Contribution to the design of the poster en flyers for the open studio activity of Jan van Gogh,
as part of the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Vincent van Gogh in Zundert, the Netherlands
* April 2003: Member of the board of the Geldropse Vrijetijdsschildersschool
* 2014 Town Hall Oude Pekela, the Netherrlands together with Gon de Wolf>
* March 2018 guest artist with Rudolf Holleman in Bellingwolde, The Netherlands as part of the Tweekarspelen art-route
* April 2018 theme exhibition "Jan Hermans - Magic images" with a workshop on computer drawing in Zael in Meppel the Netherlands
* 2019 guest artist tweekarspelenroute Bellingwolde (March 31), Art textile show borg Verhildersum in Leens (June 1-2), Rapalje folk festival (June 15-16) summer fair Bovenkerk (July 6), Art textile show and live drawing at painters festival Montmartre in Sellingen (July 13), Imaginarium fantasy fair in Tytjerk near Leeuwarden August 16-19
*2020 Feb 29- Mar 1 art show at Fantasy Fest in Rijswijk ZH
*2022 May 26-28, art show with fabric and paintings at the Imaginarium festival in Tytjerk near Leeuwarden.
later in Summer live painting at Middeleeuws Winschoten
*2023 Towel show and live drawing at Tenaxx dinopark in Wedde
*2024 Creation of a small mosasaur modeland small fossils, live drawing at Tenaxx in Wedde
New information can be found on the Internet, website:
http:www.thedigitalgallery.nl
For E-mail contact you can use jan1.hermans@planet.nl
For collectors the following information:
You can recognize the genuine work of Jan Hermans by the signature "JMHermans"
("M" is for Matthijs", and it is shared with the J and the H)
or the short "JMH",
or in Chinese characters, with many thanks to C.K. Chen from Chupei, Hsinchu, Taiwan
However, the real "tracemark" of Jans' work is the use of the "hidden autograph", only visible for the experts