Fleur de Bondt – all things art

Local artist Fleur de Bondt is making all the right noise in the art industry.

De Bondt recently participated in the Absa L’Atelier Art competition where she displayed her conceptual work through drawing and print-making.

“It feels right, it feels like I am doing what I am supposed to be doing,” she said.

The 25-year-old profusely added, “My passion to create motivates me when galleries show my work. When people buy my work I get motivated. Making sure that my concept and what I produce excites and challenges me,” she said.

The Westdene resident also expressed that when it comes to art, she enjoys cultivating and developing an idea.

She admits she finds her ideas through doing research and reading across multiple fields of interest. “I also find ideas through introspection, by observing my environment, and how the brain works; writing a lot – documentation of random thoughts, ideas, and information,” she said.

“I love the process of coming up with a concept almost as much as I enjoy putting it on paper,” she added.

Although she enjoys making art, De Bondt admitted that creativity is not something that just abundantly flows.

“There are dry spells and blocks, it can take a few months to work on a concept.” She added that another factor hindering her creativity is her aim to achieve perfection. “I believe this can directly oppose productivity. There is also the danger of stagnation,” she said.

She shared that before she could walk, she used to draw on walls and was always drawing and making things. “I have always had an innate desire

to express myself on paper, I reached a point later on in my life where I felt afraid to pursue a career as an artist because of the financial uncertainty as well as the uncertainty of whether I would make it,” she said.

However, De Bondt advised that regardless of the rejection, one cannot afford to feel discouraged – not everyone will respond to your work – and that is the nature of this industry.