Clemens Briels, born in Son in 1946, is a much sought-after artist at home and abroad. His artworks are included in various renowned art collections and he was the first Dutch artist to be elected “Official Olympic Artist” for the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City in 2002.
Behind the artworks of Clemens Briels there is always a story, his artworks are small anecdotes from a contrasting society. Clemens Briels developed his own style, ANTIPODISM: he prefers to imagine the opposite than the stereotype, the learned. The viewer is confronted with a different, imaginative view of everyday things and is often surprised by this.
Briels depicts his experiences in the Orient, the Caribbean and North and South America. In addition, traditional Central and South American music is an almost inexhaustible source of inspiration. The Cuban son, mambo, merenque and the souk, the musical tones drenched in a slightly erotic sauce, force him to create intriguing paintings.
The artworks of Clemens Briels are never bound by time and show universal themes, cosmopolitan imaginations of daily life. Clemens Briels translates his experiences in his own way, in his own unique fantasy world. Color is the tool, the story is his message. The artist stimulates the imagination of the viewer by showing other images than we are supposed to see. Because we have been taught stereotypes and not imaginative interpretations of the surrounding things and events, the viewer is faced with surprises.
