After sifting through countless celebrity-inspired portraits of mine, I’m proud to present four equally iconic collections – the Club 27, James Bond, Colour Portraits, and B&W Portraits series – which are now available to buy for the first time ever as limited-edition prints. You can explore how I translate my original artworks into high-quality prints here.
The colour and black-and-white portraits represent two contrasting aspects I’ve come to associate with celebrity. The colour portraits showcase the joy and delight iconic actors and musicians offer us through their larger-than-life talent and performances. The B&W collection is a much more atmospheric series, which delves into the glamour and allure of celebrity, but also the loneliness and isolation that comes part and parcel with being a world-famous star, where everyone wants a piece of you.
As a huge music fan, I’ve always been intrigued by the myth and mystery surrounding the 27 Club. All these super talented rock stars fell victim to their own success and left the world all too soon at the age of 27. A few years ago, I decided to make the most famous members of the 27 Club the focus of my next collection, and so I set about painting individual portraits of Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, and Amy Winehouse.
I wanted to capture the fragility and conflict of these personalities. That’s why I opted to go for black-and-white portraits, created with acrylics and charcoal. I based each portrait on iconic photos, however I took a few liberties in my interpretations, such as adding a cigarette here and there. I felt these added a uniformity across the whole series. Plus, the plumes of smoke coupled with the stark scrapes of my palette knife on the canvas lent an otherworldly, ghostly appearance to these late legends who left a lasting impact on the world of music.
The original canvas portraits were exhibited in a local jazz club and became one of my fastest-selling collections ever. I’m really excited to be able to share this collection anew as high-quality prints. They’re particularly fitting for music bars, record stores, and band rehearsal rooms.
When speaking of icons of the silver screen, you don’t get much more iconic than James Bond. Since Dr No was released in cinemas in 1962, the suave globetrotting spy has gone on to become a cultural phenomenon, gifting the world with a slew of iconic actors, iconic girls, iconic villains, iconic lines, iconic songs, iconic cars, not to mention iconic names – Pussy Galore, anyone?
Between 2016 and 2017 I completed a series of portraits depicting each actor to have taken on the 007 role so far, from Connery all the way to Craig. The collection was completed while each Bond was still alive and well. Sadly, Sean Connery and Roger Moore have since passed away, but their legacy will live on forever, just like diamonds, to paraphrase one Bond movie title. Now released as a series of prints, my James Bond collection is ideal for any cineaste with a love for spy thrillers. And while I don’t suggest shaking them, these prints are sure to stir up plenty of memories and emotions tied to the movies.
I hope you enjoy these portraits as much as I did creating them. And as always, feel free to reach out for any advice on framing idea, shipping options, and personalised touches.
]]>Food is a great passion of mine and when done well I feel it can inspire and wow people just like any great art should. How expert chefs expertly play with the flavours, textures, and colours of their ingredients. How they entice diners with exquisite plating techniques that look as pretty as a picture. This is art of the highest order, and really not too dissimilar to what I do on with my paints and canvases.
And if we’re talking about great food prepared by great chefs, you don’t get much greater than Michelin-starred Dutch chef Sergio Herman who’s regularly hailed as one of the top 50 chefs in the entire world. I’ve followed Sergio’s career for a long time and have had the pleasure to meet him and eat at several of his restaurants in Holland and Belgium on a few occasions. He’s given me such joy with his food that I wanted to return the favour. So, I painted Sergio his very own portrait.
For this artwork, I wanted to tie the food aspect into the portrait in a unique way. I knew Sergio had begun his cooking career working at his father’s restaurant, which specialised in mussels. As I live on the Belgian coast, I thought there was a cool seafood link to have fun with here. I headed over to one of my favourite local seafood restaurants and bought a sack-load of empty mussel shells. I took these back to my studio, bleached them clean, and crushed them in a bucket. This mosaic of mussel shells would form the backdrop of the portrait, creating a link between the man, his youth, and his art.
I really wanted to capture Sergio’s famously temperamental personality. He’s a man of fierce passion for food, and things are known to get heated in his kitchen from time to time. I chose to depict him in stark contrasts of black and white, which I felt represented his duality: the delicate approach he takes to his food versus his fiery moods. Once the portrait had been painted, I glued the shell pieces on the canvas. I loved the effect it created. The shells really glistened and sparkled when they caught the light. It was a portrait truly worthy of a celebrity chef.
Early last year – pre-pandemic of course – a friend and I took a journey to Sergio’s Pure C restaurant in Strandhotel Cadzand-Bad to surprise him with the portrait. He was genuinely taken aback by the painting and was full of praise, joking that “at least my hair looks good.”
Always the gentlemen, Sergio treated us to a delicious taster menu of delights from his kitchen as a token of his appreciation. It was wonderful to meet up with this legendary chef once again and I was over the moon with how happy he was with the portrait.
You can also check out my other original portraits available for purchase.
]]>I admit, this is a strange kind of announcement to be making when I’ve just issued my very first series of limited-edition prints – The Nude & Toons Collection.
So, why the U-turn Frank? What’s changed, I hear you ask? Well, as it turns out, quite a lot actually.
First of all, the technology has made great strides and become incredibly sophisticated in recent years. I’m finally 100% confident that these super hi-res scanners and printers can accurately capture the intricacies of my art. Each artwork is printed on 280g soft white cotton Giclee paper, where every texture of the wood, canvas, charcoal, and brush strokes is beautifully replicated on the print. These are truly museum-quality prints with long-lasting UV protection, meaning they will hold their colours and lustre for 50 to 100 years into the future. That’s far longer than your standard print. I wouldn’t settle for anything sub-par, it’s not in my nature.
More than the technology, I’ve increasingly wished to make my art more accessible to more of you. Many of you get in touch with me, enquiring about specific artworks, which have already been sold or may even be out of budget. But when any one of us finds an affinity with a particular piece of art, I know it can be frustrating when there’s no way to enjoy it outside of a computer screen. So, after a lot of deliberation, I decided it was high time to give more people the opportunity to enjoy my art, hang it on their walls, and add a touch of colour and fun to their households, offices, or wherever it may be.
This doesn’t mean I’m suddenly going to be doling out countless copies of my art willy-nilly. No way, Jose. Each artwork will be limited to a strict run of 25 prints. That’s it. Once those prints are sold out, no more will be issued, ever again. Clients can purchase prints with confidence, knowing they’re in possession of a high-quality artwork of value, which will remain exclusive and rare forever. That’s a bona fide Frank De Decker guarantee.
I also wanted to make sure that each individual print is distinctive and special in its own way. I personally sign and number each print in such a way that they can’t be digitally replicated. I even go one step further and add a unique watercolour paint stroke by hand to each print. I’ll consult with you beforehand so that you can have your say on just how you wish your print to be personalised. This ensures that your artwork is utterly unique and customised specifically to you. There won’t ever be another one quite like it. Finally, your print will be posted in an ultra-cool personalised tube along with a certificate of authenticity.
The Nudes & Toons Collection is now available for sale, and I have exciting plans for additional limited-edition collections coming soon. Watch this space.
I really hope you’re as impressed with the quality of these prints as I am. I look forward to collaborating with you on your personalised prints. Feel free to get in touch should you have any questions about any specific pieces. Until next time, folks!
]]>One of the most common questions I’m asked as an artist is where I get my ideas from. It’s always a tricky question to answer. As a creative person, you can’t manufacture inspiration. It needs to strike organically. You simply need to be ready, waiting, ready to capture lightning in a bottle whenever it hits.
One day last year, I was holed up in my gallery, feeling a little uninspired by all that was going on in the world. So I decided to cheer myself up by revisiting some of the classic cartoons, which have delighted me ever since I was a young boy – Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, and co. As I watched these classic characters get into all sorts of mischief on my laptop screen, I was struck by their timeless quality. They are, I thought, even more iconic than the biggest Hollywood actors and super famous rock stars, because they’re immortal, forever young and exuberant, never changing with fashion.
In that moment, it hit me: what if I were to juxtapose these timeless cartoons with another love of mine, that of real-life figures and nudes. It was certainly an odd idea, but it got my creative juices flowing. I began experimenting, creating wooden board and canvas paintings where cartoons were set side by side with nude female figures.
Almost immediately, there was an energy and vibrancy to the pieces that captured my imagination. The cartoons began to stand for positivity and happiness, so I painted them vividly in figurative poses using acrylics that I accented using a palette knife. The nudes, on the other hand, began to embody fragility and the fleetingness of beauty. So, I drew these in stark, grey tones using charcoal.
So many themes began to emerge on the canvas – the contrast between colour and monochrome, fiction and the real, mortality and immortality, innocence and sensuality. It was a real joy to see them come to life. Each painting sparked more and more ideas, until I finally had a fully-fledged series, which I titled Nudes & Toons.
When I saw the response the series was receiving, I decided this would be my first collection to launch in limited-edition prints. I’ve gone to great lengths to ensure that each artwork has been accurately reproduced in print-form and I couldn’t be happier with the end results. You can explore the reproduction process in greater detail here. I hope they’ll brighten up many homes and offices around the world.
And remember, if you need any help or advice with framing ideas, picture sizes, shipping options etc, feel free to get in touch. I’ll be happy to help.
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