About Bert Janssen

Bert Janssen, 1963, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Artist Bert Janssen

Clay, sand, cement, soil, water, fire, paint and ash ... Bert Janssen experiments with materials, color, and structure.

He calls himself a matter painter and considers himself be part of the creation process. He is fascinated by the process of growth and proliferation — until he rises above it and sees that it is good.

Bert Janssen was born in Driel, on the Rhine in Gelderland.

In his youth, he was always out in nature, playing, playing, and playing again ... playing soccer, swimming, building huts, starting fires, fishing etc.

Staying inside only when he had to!

He learned young to experience how it felt to be with the earth (clay, sand, and soil), with water, fire, and air.

After high school, it was almost natural to study something in the direction of nature: zoology and natural sciences.

However his natural curiosity went beyond nature. A growing interest in the arts and helping people led to 20 years of working with mentally handicapped adults while pursuing various art and painting training courses and workshops.

Important training programs and workshops:

Basic locomotion with Michiel Dhont: Training with Michiel Dhont, I learned to rely on my hands because they expressed all my inner images and brought them from my heart into physical expression.
Mixacademy: Mix-academy taught me to find the core of my own figurative expression, and to it depict in my own style.
Rob van Leeuwen: From Rob I learned to work with natural materials.

The experiences I gained from these various trainings and workshops helped me develop the confidence and certainity that working and playing with the different elements is sufficient, nothing else is needed, and anything goes! A trip of discovery to yourself.