Can you present your career path in a few words?  

 

I studied to become a chartered accountant and spent seven years setting up cash management systems in companies, notably at Coopers and Lybrand, the forerunner of PwC. At that time, I painted at night and mainly for friends. My painting was rather academic. After a stormy interview with someone from the HR department for a new job, I decided to become an artist. It was a rebellious act! A reaction of a brat in the end. From that moment on, my commitment to my painting was total. And even if sometimes it's a bit rock and roll, I have never regretted this choice. I arrived in Luxembourg at the end of 2000, after spending 8 months in a camping van in the United States and Canada with my wife and our first son, who was 7 months old when we left. My painting really took off when I was lucky enough to be selected for the CAL (Cercle Artistique de Luxembourg) exhibition in 2001. From then on, exhibitions and projects followed one another. 

 

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"Following a stormy interview with the HRD for a new job, I decided to be an artist.”  

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Which artists and works inspire you?  

 

The first artist who inspired me was Maurice Estève. I think he’s a painter who has been collected a lot here in Luxembourg. His exhibition at the Grand Palais in 1986 was a real revelation for me. His very particular way of treating colour and the wisdom that seemed to emanate from this man fascinated me. There have been other painters of course - Poliakoff, Kandinsky, De Staël, Hockney - but Estève was my entry into this painting adventure. Since then I feel close to two other artists, especially through their vision of the creative act: Fabienne Verdier and Pierre Soulages. It's been a long time since I was inspired by artists, because it's important to follow one's own path, to go deep inside oneself to find what one wants to tell. I believe that it is nature that inspires me. It’s during my hikes that I have been taking in the mountains for a few years that I draw my inspiration and that I reconnect with the universe. 

 

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What effect do you want to produce with your work?  

 

What is important for me is to transfer all the energy that is in me to the canvas. I think that's why people like my paintings. For the special way I use colour. I know it feels good, because I hear it often. I'm a kind of cook with colour. For all these years I’ve been writing a kind of diary that reflects my emotions. What I am is in my painting. I don't cheat, against all odds I trace my path.

 

www.frankjons.com