Elise Willems (°1993, Aalst, Belgium), lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium.

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Elise Willems earned her degree in Architecture from the University of LUCA school of arts before studying a degree Fine Arts at Sint-Lucas Antwerp.

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These architectural skills along with a strong interest in the digital realm are the inspiration for her artistic painting practice.

Her paintings contain visual elements of computer-generated imagery. It showcases an environment with recognisable forms referenced from nature. The objects in the work are deconstructed to the extent that meaning is shifted and open for interpretation. Scale, form and texture of the digital objects in the paintings are taken out of a regular context. Rather than presenting a factual reality, an imaginary world is presented as a new reality.

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The creative process involves a back and forth communication between digital drawing/rendering software and analogue painting methods in an attempt to blur the line between the 2D and 3D space. The paintings on canvas show a fragment of the digital realm they are ‘taken’ from. The composition of the works are created by navigating through the digital models, in search for interesting places to capture in 2D.

Painting these virtual worlds and thus creating them in the real world questions our seemingly certain reality. The work reflects on how we are dealing with the fusion of our physical and virtual lives and how we experience this hybrid reality.

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