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| Anton Bean's selfie with Vincent van Gogh |
Anton Bean. Artist. Luxembourg.
I'm Anton Bean. I'm an artist. I was born in Ettelbréck and moved to Amsterdam to study in the Universiteit van Amsterdam. I return to my country and after some years of working in the Luxembourg Central Bank I decided to start new studies in something that I really love: Art. Netherlands, the hometown of Vincent Van Gogh, was my inspiration and guide. This Dutch experience was very important to study Arts and I'm an artist, a person who creates art... but what is art? This is one of the most interesting questions without a common answer.
-Good morning, Anton Bean and thanks to attend us.
-Good morning.
-Why AFKAAB?
-It's an homage to Prince.
-What is art for you?
-Art is something that affects your feelings and your senses. That's all. Then, it depends of every person. The same art work can create different emotions in different people.
-How is your art?
-It depends. Art is something that you can't control because it comes from the deepest soul and creating art isn't a mechanical action. It's a mix of soul and inspiration.
-How is your best work?
-The best work is always arriving because the most interesting about art is the process of creation and every work is better than the previous one because you really enjoy meanwhile you are working in it.
-Which is your favourite artist?
-It's impossible to choose only one but I love Vincent van Gogh. I studied in Netherlands and Van Gogh has been an incredible influence for me but I also love the Flemish art. It's mysterious and dark and I like this.
-Well, then... which is your favourite Van Gogh's work?
-The Starry Night. Vincent van Gogh painted it in Saint Rémy in June 1889. It's very important the season because, as you know, light changes and light is very important for a painter, especially for an impressionist one.
-It is a masterpiece, isn't it?
-Of course, it is. Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo: this morning I saw the country from my window a long time before sunrise, with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big... We know that Van Gogh was in an asylum victim of a mental breakdown in the winter of 1888 and he added that through the iron-barred window. I can see an enclosed square of wheat ... above which, in the morning, I watch the sun rise in all its glory. He must left out the iron bars to paint this picture.
-Van Gogh has a mental illness, like Salvador Dalí...
-Yes, and like the 35% of the world population... Vincent Van Gogh's The Starry Night is talking about mortality. The dark spires in the foreground are cypress trees, plants most often associated with cemeteries and death. This connection gives a special significance to this Van Gogh quote; Looking at the stars always makes me dream. Why, I ask myself, shouldn't the shining dots of the sky be as accessible as the black dots on the map of France? Just as we take the train to get to Tarascon or Rouen, we take death to reach a star.
-People say that it's difficult to live with an artist. Is it true?
-I don't think so. Living in pair is difficult because it's a question of offering and receiving but it doesn't depend of your work.
-How's life with an artist, then?
-A normal life. There are many people who are artists but they work in other jobs and they don't explore and explode their art but it doesn't mean that they weren't artists. Remember: Art is something that changes your feelings and your senses and there are a lot of ways to reach it.
-Which is your advice for a newcomer artist?
-Believe in yourself. You should know that you must believe in yourself because this is a complicated world and you sometimes can feel yourself alone. If this moment arrives, you must think that you have got yourself.
-How do you feel being a member of The Beans?
-The Beans are very good people. We're a great family and they respect me and love my art. They accept that I'm an artist and I sometimes need to express myself because I feel an unstoppable desire of creating something.
-How is a normal day with The Beans?
-What's normal? If normal means something that the most part of people do, and then we aren't a normal family because we do whatever we desire, whenever we want and wherever we stay.
-How long have you been studying English?
-I studied English since the High School. In Luxembourg, we have three official languages: German, French and Luxembourgish. I speak all of them and Dutch because I learnt it during the university in Amsterdam.
-What can you explain about your life with The Beans?
-The Bonds offer me the possibility of being myself and this is something very important for an artist. You can express your opinions and everybody is going to accept your point of view although they don't share it with you.
-Which is your best memory with the family?
-I have lots of memories although I remember strongly when I could talk to them about one of my secret passions: search hidden treasures. I talked about Cocos Islands and its three hidden treasures and Benito Bonito, a curious person.
-Imagine that I want to buy one of your works. Recommend me one...
-I love all of my works but I want to recommend you four because I have painted them meanwhile I have been with The Beans. First, Blood. I painted a tribute to a Romanian hero, one of the most terrible fighters who have existed. He used fear against his enemies and terrible punishments. It's a painting with a predominance of red tones. Second, I created The Prospectors, a tribute to those men who searched gold in the American rivers. Finally, I made Cocos Island, a picture about the colonization. On August 3rd 1492 Columbus sailed from Spain and arrived to an island which he named San Salvador. History changed forever.
-You're an artist. Can you create a slogan for The Beans?
-Not now. I need time to create my works but it will be a coloured motto. We are like a colour palette. Everyone is different, like a different colour but together we can create incredible things, like a picture.
-Thank you very much, Anton Bean.
-You're welcome.
Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.
Vincent Van Gogh
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