Nele Boudry

Nele Boudry (born 1 March 1961, Poperinge) is a Belgian painter and sculptor. She lives and works in Caunes-Minervois in France.
Nele Boudry was born into a family of artists in Belgium, who included her father, Paul Boudry, grandfather and most notably, the celebrated painter, Aloïs Boudry, her great Uncle. An artist is what she has wanted to be ever since she was a very small girl. She began at school that favoured the arts when she was 6, graduating from Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp) when she was 22. Her studies have been multifarious - from ceramics, bronzes, jewelry to sculpture, glass-making and footwear.
== Education and workshops ==
* School of Art - Brugge
* Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp: Masters in Visual Arts- Fine Arts painting & Fine Arts drawing
* School of Arts and Crafts Mechelen: Glass art
* ‘Masterclass Hot Glass, by Koen Vanderstukken and Miloslava Svobodova
* 'Verre au chalumeau’, by Jean - Pierre Baquère
* Raku technique, by Kees Hooghendam (Ceramics)
* Throwing and turning technique, by Pierre Declerck (Ceramics)
== Style and technique ==
Nele Boudry is known for her reinterpretations of Renaissance Portrait. They are in reaction to how contemporary society often seems to see fame and stardom as having more value than the more discrete, warmer values of man. After visiting the Louvre and witnessed a stampede of visitors, smartphones in hand, on their way to take a selfie with the Mona Lisa while completely ignoring the countless other masterpieces in the museum, Nele Boudry was inspired to give these masterpieces a life of their own, not only completely painted in the technique used by the Flemish painting such as Jan van Eyck and Peter Paul Rubens, but also in expressing the soul and the sensitivity that makes human beings so strange and utterly individual and which the Flemish masters achieved so memorably. Boudry is a very emotional painter, deeply affected by the extraordinary look and feel of the human body. Her technique involves building a portrait using many transparent layers to capture the light and mood, but also the feelings of those depicted in her portraits. She is looking for life, as it were, at the very nerve ends.
== Exhibitions and public art ==
Exhibitions of recent work have been held in Belgium, Spain & France.
* 'A Fair Face', selection of New Old Masters and portraits, from December 2021 until January 2022, at Galerie Lloyd in Oostende
* 'Hommelbloed', megadrawings of current hop farmers, from March 2020 until November 2021, at The Hopmuseum in Poperinge
* 'Momentum', selection of sculptures, from March 2021 until Augustus 2021, at Museumhuis Lucien De Gheus in Poperinge
* ‘The Desire of Looking', selection of New Old Masters and portraits, from July 2020 until August 2020 at De Queeste Art in Abele
* 'Gestes des Vignes', megadrawings of the people involved in the vine- and winebusiness, from August 2019 until September 2019 at Domaine L’Ostal Cazes in La Livinière.
* 'Ginger', commemorative sculpture in bronze of the beloved waitress Eliane Cossey at the market place in Poperinge (2015)
* 'Quinten', sculpture as an ode to 25 years of Dranouter Folkfestival at market place in Dranouter
​Art in private collections
Belgium - France - UK - Germany - Spain - Denmark - New Zeeland - Australie - USA - Canada
== Recognition ==
* Golden pallet, award for artistic career, Poperinge (2003)
* The Royal Society of Portrait Painters, London (2021)
* Member of Poperinge's High Society Club 'De Witte Ranke' (2013)
Category:1961 births
Category:Belgian painters
Category:Belgian sculptors
Category:People from Poperinge
Category:Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp) alumni