Roger Nellens (1937-2021) “mechanical Abstraction”

Roger Nellens was born in Liège in 1937. He is a completely self-taught painter. A realist at the beginning, he painted landscapes and seascapes, influenced by Constant Permeke and then by Paul Delvaux. His first exhibition took place in Knokke in 1968 then at the Galerie Veranneman in 1969. It was at this time that he inaugurated the theme of "Imaginary Machines". He created a 14-meter-long fresco on canvas for the Gribaumont metro station in 1976, which he called the "Tropolitain". He died in Knokke-Heist in 2021. Here is a canvas painting made in 1995, entitled "Anne-Lise II". It takes up one of his favorite motifs, the cogwheel, an essential part of most machines. The work is in very good condition and its colors are still very bright.