Frank De Decker is an established artist living on the Belgian coast who specialises in pop-art-inspired portraits and mixed-media canvas paintings.
A selection of work done between 1966 – 2023
LATEST
ART
“The very first portrait.” 14 years old, a self-portrait at the kitchen table. "Wow, draw your sister", my first commission. Thanks, Mom
Medium
Pencil
Size
A4
BROTHER & SISTER
Place
Bruges
Collection
Private
One-faced, two-faced, whatever. Those people in your life that you think you can count on. There is a saying: it is not the people who disappoint you, but your own expectations. And yet, I want to keep hoping and expecting. No matter how painful, my heart speaks.
Medium
Acrylic & charcoal on wood
Size
110/110cm
DEVILS & GOODNESS
Place
Bruges
Collection
Private
You have to know your place in life. If your love, your muse, is a fan of “den Lenny”, you can be jealous or you can grant her it. Lenny for my love and guesses in whose office this work has been given pride of place.
Medium
Acrylic & charcoal on wood
Size
122/122cm
LENNY FOR LOVE
Place
Blankenberge
Collection
Private
Art has always worked around icons. The popular headlines that portray a spirit of the times. Warhol was the master and Dali inspired the surreal character. A phase of experimenting and perhaps even more important than being an artist; play, have fun, be creative, do it, discover what works, what doesn't and hop back on.
Medium
Screen printed and painted with acrylic paint on canvas
Size
100/100cm
Place
Tenerife
Collection
Private
FRANK GOES WARHOL
An autumn evening at 8:00 PM, a phone call on the number hanging in my shop window, a nude portrait sold, a wine bar nearby and one of the most beautiful things in the world: a friend who suddenly walks into your life.
Inspiration is something you have to be open to when it presents itself, just like friendship.
Medium
Acrylic on wood, palette knife technique
Size
122/244cm
SVEN
Place
Bruges
Collection
Private
Less is more. Lines and surfaces, light and dark, color on wood. That feeling as an artist: Boenk on it! The discovery and energy boost of a new style for myself. A new start for many committees that would follow, then in Tenerife, later internationally.
Medium
Acrylic paint on wood
Size
100/100cm
MAMA DE BUDDHABAR
Place
Tenerife
Collection
Private
Icons and well-known headlines form a common thread throughout my career. Inspiration from their work, universality of their presence. Here Brando in his inimitable Don Corleone, watercolor technique with his own saliva to get the degradés as fine as possible. This is what we call literally being absorbed in your work. “He made me an offer I couldn't refuse.”
Medium
Watercolour on paper
Size
50/70cm
EL PADRINO
Place
United Kingdom
Collection
Private
A top coach, a businessman, a mayor, a public figure, who doesn't mince words. A judoka, tough as nails and yet flexible when necessary. A smile and kindness for someone who gets quite a bit of trouble. Or how, as a portraitist, you feel the connection with your subject. Gratitude is not a strange word for my namesake, I am always moved when I see him posing for his portrait in the media. Thankful back.
Medium
Acrylic & charcoal on wood
Size
122/122cm
JM
Place
Middelkerke, gemeentehuis
Collection
Private
El Medano, Tenerife, surf and kite paradise, in a popular bar for tanned beach athletes hangs a series of character heads from the jazz and blues world. An important step in my own evolution as a portraitist. The power of contrast, only with graphite pencil and leaving the light where the light does its work best. Thank you Curtis and the gang.
Medium
Graphite pencil on watercolor paper
Size
50/70cm
Curtis
Place
El Medano, Tenerife
Collection
Private, bar Que Pasa
You have a big mouth, prove it once” dating my future muse, I didn’t know much. I hadn’t painted for a while. A portrait of my, by now, stepdaughter. Birthday present with flop-pies incorporated in the background. Anything but a flop, so many years later, love and love.
Medium
Acrylic and floppies
Size
122/122cm
Louise
Place
Bruges
Collection
Private
Another ode to the most painted and port-retred woman in the world. Red with desire, lips as an accent telling a story. The white plaster cloth refers to her world-famous white dress.
Medium
Acrylic, plaster and wood
Size
120/120cm
Mixed Monroe
Place
London
Collection
Private
What of yourself do you put into your work? What does a work say about which phase in your life? Hidden repressed sorrow about the passing of my mother, a marriage in the dumps, rebound relationship, drinking and uninhibitedness. La vie d’artiste, over-romanticized again, and yet, as Piaf sang ...
Medium
Acrylic and charcoal on canvas
Size
100/120cm
Cheers
Place
Gent
Collection
Private
My studio is my living and breathing space, my free state, my safe place and the soundtrack has been radio station JOE for many years. A Top 2000 of all time, a passage about David Bowie and me who had just finished a portrait of Bowie. A photo on the JOE app and the spontaneous reaction of Alexandra: "Well he can also port-ret me!". And so it happened and Alexandra became the first of a series of portraits of colleagues of JOE and a lot of other B.V.'s. Thank you Alexandra.
Medium
Acrylic on wood
Size
110x110cm
Alexandra
Place
Antwerpen
Collection
Private
As a fan of Koen De Bouw and especially after watching Professor T. I had a great artistic desire to portray this top actor and character. After a warm invitation to Koen himself in his garden, between the chickens and with the necessary cava, we shook hands to seal our collaboration. He also gave me permission, in consultation with top photographer Pieter Clicteur, to use this award-winning photo portrait for inspiration.
Medium
Acrylic and charcoal on wood
Size
110x110cm
Koen
Place
Antwerpen
Collection
Private
A passionate, driven, great man in the music business, a chance meeting after a surprise for my musically talented daughter Lucia, a night out with Niels Destadbader, a gentlemen's agreement, a full city theatre with an international audience and television. A port-ret where I deliberately leave the music stave open in the background, the message explicit: give us much more beautiful music Patrick.
Medium
Acrylic and charcoal on wood
Size
110x110cm
Patrick
Place
Loppem—Brugge
Collection
Private
This work was an idea of my muse, my lady who is a real veteran in the hospitality industry, director of coastal hotels for many years. "Why don't you do a series with nudes, food and drink things" she said. The Bon Vivant in me couldn't resist and a pack of these works still hang in the Liberty hotel in Blankenberge. Contrast, pallet technique, beautiful ladies and a bit of an edge, I love my job.
Medium
Acrylic and charcoal on canvas
Size
80x80cm
A cup of…
Place
Blankenberge
Collection
Hotel Liberty
This work was an idea of my muse, my lady who is a real veteran in the hospitality industry, director of coastal hotels for many years. "Why don't you do a series with nudes, food and drink things" she said. The Bon Vivant in me couldn't resist and a pack of these works still hang in the Liberty hotel in Blankenberge. Contrast, pallet technique, beautiful ladies and a bit of an edge, I love my job.
Medium
Matchboxes partially burned
Size
110cm
Kop in brand
Place
Blankenberge
Collection
Private
Throughout my career I have been vigilant not to rest on my laurels. Inspiration is hardly something that arises in still waters. Not taking myself too seriously, an inner child that is sometimes difficult to control and everything was there for a next phase in my artistic career. The elegance of the naked body in combination with the playfulness of pop-ular cartoon characters immediately creates a completely different narrative that puts a smile on the faces of many people.
Medium
Acrylic on wood
Size
110x110cm
Who needs a happy ending?
Place
Blankenberge
Collection
Private
We could call her Eva, the mother of all the nudes I painted in recent years with an increasingly prominent palette knife technique. My muse Trixie was also an inspiration there. “Shouldn’t you do nudes anymore?” she said. When I stood naked in the living room a little later with only my socks on, she said: “That’s not what I meant”. Then, slightly corrected, I went to get my palette knife and artistically channeled all my accumulated energy into it.
Medium
Acrylic and charcoal on canvas
Size
10x120cm
A new day
Place
Duitsland
Collection
Private
‘Entre tes reins’ and all that came to mind was ‘entre tes seins’. Jane Birkin one of the undeniable sex symbols of my youth. Here is a portrait of her with a collage technique that I like to use. The nostalgia of old magazine images pasted over the entire surface of the work and then in full presence the transparent portrait in front of it. Depth and feeling, pop-art façon Frank.
Medium
Acryl en collage op hout
Size
110x110cm
Birkin
Place
Frankrijk
Collection
Private