Teken-ing - JL
Ensemble
Jef Lambrecht always drew... by his own account beginning with copies of comic strips in the newspaper – His drawings are as with most of his activities cross-over situations... More often than not they skirt the boundaries of what could be considered (brush-drawing) painting or calligraphy – from miniscule doodles on cigarette-papers to large murals and installations, rolls of paper or recuperated cartons...
Considering the draughtsman Jef Lambrecht: he was a natural. By his own account he began early and drew continuously – the many doodles that adorn all manner of papers are witness to that... he did not enjoy a formal instruction, but by his own inquisitiveness taught himself more traditional techniques and such – being quite elated when he got to grips with perspective... but on the whole he retained a free sort of lyrical abstract style that is at once free and at the same time often straight to the point...
He made use of all manners and traditions, and incorporated these in more graphic applications as well as what one would consider painting – brush drawings and calligraphy, collage elements and modifications intentionally mixing and skirting the definitions in many cases. The figurative and narrative, sequential is never far off, some pages being populated with strange humanoid creatures, along with mammals, birds and others, to illustrate some of life's more baffling moments... they are often used in conjunction with texts or site-specific projects – again oscillating between 'illustration' and performance. Here too the act of drawing is more essential than the result.
During extended hospital stays towards the end of his life Jef Lambrecht rediscovered the pencils he used as a child and made a few series of intense drawings, his last works.