Description

Gerard Holmens studied at the Municipal Art Academy of Ostend (1951-53), the Academy of Antwerp (1955-56), that of Ghent (1957-58), and at “La Grande Chaumière” in Paris with Ossip Zadkine;
Around 1955 Holmens departed from a stylized figuration: vegetal compositions and imaginary animals; his search led in 1965 to mobile stone sculptures; after a trip to Ireland, the sculpture cycle “De Stilte” (The Silence) was born.
Since 1981 he lived in Vieuzos, France (Ht. the Pyrenees); there, he created a new series of works, a neo-romantic or neo-symbolist figuration, around the theme of the table, chair, vehicle, laden with the symbolism of life and death, meaning and meaninglessness, eroticism, fatum, horror
author of the Léon Spilliaert monument (1964; Canadaplein public garden, Ostend).

Restored in several places by a professional restorer.