'THERE IS NOTHING THAT IS A MORE SIGN OF INSANITY THAN TO DO THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AND EXPECT THE RESULTS TO BE DIFFERENT'(Einstein)

AREN'T ALL QUESTIONS EASY WHEN YOU KNOW THE ANSWERS? Yes, it has been a while. For no specific reason. I've just been living life, instead of living the dream. And once again I felt like I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. So I started travelling to where I hadn't been before. I chose Thailand. Phuket. Looking for adventure, looking for myself. Far away from home. In order to live the dream I need to make the unthinkable thinkable and the impossible possible. Why? Because I can. All creative people need something to rebel against. I do it for me. Every painter wants to create at least one masterpiece, but how many are prepared to make the sacrifices it takes to be great? Welcome to the land of the eternal smile! Although they stole my laptap, camera, money and some other things, I really like Thailand. I love the colors, the smiling faces, the light, the boedism and last but not least the non-professional women. Yes, it's time to take up painting again. Aiming beyond what I am capable of. ENERGY. There are no excuses. I just won't take no for an answer. Whithout me doing it, when it supposedly can't be done, it would be another in the endless list of ideas that have never happened. Looking for a tittle. Maybe: Be unfashionable, take risks, or Fly or die, or Tunnel Vision, or A lesson in itself, or I am no more or less distasteful than you, or There's just no talking to them? No, not good enough.. I am going for: Close Encounters. Yes! So coming soon, probably next month: Close Encounters. Be ready. By the way: happy birthday mom!

Talent Seekers

I have registered to participate in the Talent Seekers International Contest and I would like to ask you for your support. If you want to help me, all you need to do is vote on the following link: http://www.talentseekers.net/votar.php?aut=3903 Before you are allowed to vote, you will need to register giving your username and email address. You will receive an email for verification purposes. This is just a standard measure to avoid fraudulent voting. If you do not receive this email within minutes, please check in your unwanted mail file. TALENT SEEKERS is elaborating an International jury conformed of professionals from all creative sectors, mainly companies highlighted within the sector (record companies, publishers, magazines, art galleries, etc.). However, this jury will only evaluate the 100 authors/artists previously chosen by the public throughout 2009 in each of the 10 categories of the Contest. And here lies the importance of your vote. The evaluation of the jury will not take place until January of 2010, the winners obtaining a World-wide publicity campaign, as well as other prizes supplied by different sponsors. Further prizes will be raffled between Talent Seekers users who have participated with their votes. Many thanks for your support. Please forward this mail to your friends. Kind regards, Filip Van Roy

People are strange (but we all speak the same language) !

´WHAT IS A STRANGER DOING IN A STRANGE COUNTRY?´ somebody asked. I was excited, and at the same time uneasy. Whenever I see the sea, or a fire, I fall silent, impressed by their elemental force. ´Creatures used to traveling, know about moving on.´I said. And we all have to be prepared for change. When something or someone evolves, everything around that thing or person evolves as well. People need not fear the unknown if they are capable of and willing to achieve what they need and want. The fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. When you can´t go back, you have to worry only about the best way of moving forward. I love to look at the people in the streets: they are coming and going, and all of them seem to be very busy. Everybody seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own. In the end they all believe the world´s greatiest lie. I learnt to see the world through my eyes and not someone else´s. People are afraid to persue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don´t deserve them, or that they´ll be unable to achieve them. That´s a shame, because everyone, when they are young, knows what their destiny is. Personally I know that I´ll never be able to escape from my heart. So for me at least, it is better to listen to what it has to say. There is an universal language that deals with the past and the present of all people. Time is a storm in which we are all lost. The past is part of the present. Read the past and discover what has already been forgotten. But the secret for the future is here in the present. I try not to live in either my past or my future. Life can be a party, a grand festival, if you can concentrate always on the present. Basicly I want to live the present as I do the lessons of my past and my dreams about the future. Without being impatient. I eat when it´s time to eat, and move along when it´s time to move along. Without fear. To die tomorrow is no worse than dying on any other day. Every day is there to be lived or to mark one´s departure from this world. But, most important, I am able every day to live out my dream. It´s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting. The closer I get to realizing my destiny, the more that destiny becomes my true reason for being. I´m trying to realize my reason for being and I am at the point where I´m about to give it all up. If I start out by promising what I don´t even have yet, I´ll lose my desire to work toward getting it. I often become complety lost, learning how to achieve a masterpiece. I prefer the taste of battle, and the thrill of not knowing what the outcome will be. If good things are coming, they will be a pleasant surprise. If bad things are, and you know in advance, you will suffer greatly before they even occur. It´s mostly fear of failure that keeps me from attempting the masterpiece. So I must free myself from negative thoughts. Am I going to hold on to what little I have, because I´m too insignificant to conquer the world? Or will I go and try? There must be a language in the world that everyone understands: the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose, and as a part of a search for something believed in and desired. No project is completed until its objective has been achieved. So I guess I´ll see you next month. With or without any news.

War in Belgium

`WHAT IS GOING ON IN BELGIUM?` an unknown voice in my head said when I was trying to understand and capture the colour of the sea. Why would you paint something when you can take a picture of it? That at least I share with some digital artists. But anyway, politics? Why not? I will respond once more to the barbarians who believe that art is too much navel-string orientated. The idea that art should benefit to society somehow often comes down to the ultimate wish of everything remaining the same, like clinging to the past. Otherwise art would soon become a form of decadence, read blameworthy luxury.

Well, talent is also the flexibility to respond to what suddenly emerges. If you want you can call the series of twelve about the political situation in my home country: War in Belgium. The tone is set. Although I don’t like to explain my work. But isn`t giving a title to artwork the same?

Belgium is like the world: a source of pleasure and total bewilderment. I’m trying not to take sides. But, I am Flemish and there’s still something like history and the third law of Isaac Newton. There you go. What do I want? Practice. Because standing still is a cliché. Running in circles is out of the question. You learn from your mistakes, not from success. As an artist you can make two fatal mistakes: identifying yourself with success or identifying yourself with the lack of it. It seems that almost everyone is locked up in their head, resulting in an enormous silence. It reminds me of what you often see with psychiatric patients: an obsessive repetition of thought and behavioural patterns. On the other hand I consider the idea of a new emerging human species having to produce a new kind of art very presumptuous. Are we not all just mice trotting along the path of faith? And yet I love the sweet and sour taste of the search for a new style. Pushing further and coming back if I find something new. Without fear. Are we not all prisoners of our symbols that we consider universal? A lot of shapes are merely illusions, wrong impressions. A combination of expressive, figurative and abstract - soaked with symbolism. Nobody sees the same. In this sense, a form is a rationalized impression.

Belgium. While I’m living in a milder climate where I can eat and drink what I want and take care of myself when I’m sick. Even if I am a smoker. But, do you really have to be somewhere to know what’s going on? I was present at my birth but I can’t remember much about it. It also strikes me that most reflections are dated. Maybe this series is my settlement with my homeland? Who knows? I only ask the questions. Well over three and half years after Thirteen in a dozen.

The rhythm of painting. I was drowned in the series, which is almost a physical sensation. Anything goes. Without fear, without hesitation. Because fear paralyzes, because fear perpetuates. No waiting for Godot, but fighting the nonsense armed with paint. Painting subconsciously, and the self-conscious becomes the editor. Today. Because tomorrow there will be new voices dominating my brain. What do I want? And am I alone?

What do you expect? Because here is: War in Belgium. Without any shame. What do I think of it? Ask me again next year. You need to give these things time. And time will tell. So, do I qualify? Are you staying or do you want to leave? What shall we do? Fortunately, art critics are not natural scientists; they would probably not study gravity but regret it. Painting remains an existential need. With or without it, I remain very clumsy in this world. But... most of all I had a bloody good time painting this series. So I guess I will see you again next month. With or without any news.(www.froy.exto.org)