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Raf Veulemans is an artist based in Belgium. His work can be seen in a two-man show at Strychnin Gallery in Berlin in March.
Raf Veulemans, Lavabo inter innocentes manus meas (detail), 2007. Acrylic on wood and taxidermy, 21 x 75 cm. Courtesy of the artist.I discovered my passion for drawing and nature early in life and I wanted to attend art school when I was about 14. Unfortunately, this was impossible at the time due to personal circumstances, so I got a degree in technical sciences instead and specialized in electro-mechanics. After my studies, I started working as a technician and got involved in another passion of mine: music. I was very active in the Belgian band scene for quite a while. I play bass, and I still play today.
When I was about 28, I got interested in airbrush and enrolled in a basic course given by the artist, Mistral. I was really into it, but the new discovery stopped being so new when I got trapped in the traditional subjects of the medium. They just weren’t very original, so I decided to just let it go and I again dedicated myself to music.
After a couple of years, I decided to give it another try. I enrolled in a master course given by Belgium’s best airbrush artist, David De Graef. This is when it clicked, and I crossed the boundaries of traditional airbrush. I started combining the medium with less traditional materials, like taxidermy. This has become my trademark as an artist. I started showing just a few years ago, and now I am signed with Strychnin Gallery in Berlin. My work has since been shown all over Europe and the US.
I am fascinated by everything surrounding death. I know this sounds rather sinister and “Goth,” but I am actually neither. In our society we are often frightened by death and everything that has to do with it. I am trying to understand why that is, and I want to question that in my work. I am passionate about life, and I love animals. I prepare all the animals in my artwork myself. I want to show them in death how they are in life–soft and innocent. I try to breathe life and beauty back into them. I am fascinated by their fragility, and I want to eternalize their–and also our own–mortality, our shared perishable existence. I believe that what may seem shocking from afar can actually be beautiful up close. This is an experience I have often had in my own life. I’d like to stress that all the animals in my work have died from natural causes. No animal was hurt in any way. Most of them are found, come from breeders, from taxidermists, or from museum collections that have been closed down. Some of my works are actually statements against animal testing and their use in scientific experiments.
