Biography
- born 1955 in Waxweiler (Eifel), Germany
- Translator, entirely self-taught painter of naive art
- 130 worldwide exhibitions in more than 20 countries
- paintings in private ownership in many countries
- paintings in 14 permanent Museum collections in:
- Rio de Janeiro, Magog-Quebec/Canada, Vicq/France, Zagreb/Croatia, Doral-Miami/Florida/USA, Vicente López-Buenos Aires/Argentina, Grabovo/Bulgaria, Luzzara/Italy, Brussels/Belgium, Jagodina/Serbia, Béraut/France, Nanjing City/China, Surgt/Russia, Trebnje/Slovenia
- The Musée d'Art Spontané in Brussels owns 73 of Irene Brandt's paintings
- UNICEF published 2 motifs as greetings cards in 2005 and 2006
- many motifs published on calendars and greetings cards
- 60 motifs published as fine art prints/posters
Irene Brandt has been painting since her childhood. As an entirely self-taught painter of naive art she specialized on acrylic paintings cince 1996.
All her paintings have a colourful and humouristic expression in common as well as a bright and funny mood. The humour behind the painting becomes often even more evident by the interplay between painting and title. Painting means to her playing with colours. She does not want to be fixed to certain subjects. Ideas for new motifs come from her imagination, some ideas occur again and again; for example clowns, balloons, bubbles, stylized mountains, fish or paper boats. The painter's imagination is fired by memories of a happy childhood between lush green meadows, blossoming hills or the snow covered idyll of the Eifel landscape under an always friendly blue sky. Blue and green - the colours of nature - appear in all her work.
Sometimes the painter uses disproportionate dimensions to put details of the painting in the foreground in order to create a funny impression, for example fish as big as the surrounding water, people sitting on big bubbles, or a giant bunch of flowers in front of the little florist who binds it. These surrealist elements are predominant in Irene Brandt's paintings.
When she looks at a ready painting, she often gets an idea for a new painting that is based on elements of the former one.
Irene Brandt is very fond of painting on the frame. Each of these paintings tells a story that is not finished in the painting but is continued on the frame.
By the humorous and funny motifs Irene Brandt wants to show a positive view of the world and to produce a smile on the face of the observer.
"My art for your smile"....