Hugo Besard
It is not nature itself, but the mysterious force behind it, Eros, the love for life, that drives me to trace and to explore the complex world between the silence before birth and the silence after death. The fauna and flora occupying my etchings tell the sparkling story of life and death (Eros and Thanatos), virility and femininity, fertility and aridity, joy and pain, fear and security.
My art embraces the earth and the whole living world on this planet.
My art expresses my rage for the suffering of our planet, a fury which is painfully conscious of its impotence, because we, as human beings, damage ourselves. My ecological message is: spare the earth, respect the environment and his inhabitants as sacred and irreplaceable.
–
Hugo Besard was born on February 24, 1955 in Etterbeek (Brussels/BELGIUM).
Professor of “Etching” at the “Royal Academy of Fine Arts ARTESIS PLANTIJN University College of Antwerp”.
Artistic awards
Hugo Besard won 38 national and international prizes and awards:
2013: FIRST PRIZE “IV Premio ATLANTE del Museo del Grabado a la Estampa Digital de Artes 2013”, Artes-Ribeira/A Coruña (Spain)
2012: Laureate “Golden Medal of Honour Brasschaat 2012” – Honorary Citizen of Brasschaat (Belgium)
2011: “Iosif Iser International Contemporary Engraving Biennial 2011 / 1° PRIZE of the Romanian Artist’s Union” (Romania)
2011: “1° PREMIO de la 5a Muestra Internacional de Miniprint de Rosario Argentina
2011: “’FOURTH PRIZE’, “The 8th KOCHI International Triennial Exhibition of Prints JAPAN”
2010: “HONORABLE MENTION AWARD 14th International Print Exhibition Taiwan”
2009: “GRAND PRIX International Graphic Art Biennial Split/Croatia”
2008: “FIRST SPECIAL AWARD 1st International Print Biennial-Istanbul/Turkey”
Miscellaneous
2013: Visiting professor “Silpakorn University/Faculty of Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Arts Bangkok”, Bangkok (Thailand)
2012: International Jury member: “Novosibirsk International Triennial of Contemporary Graphic Art 2012” (Novosibirsk/Russia)
2012: Finalist “International Print Exhibition Yuannan China 2012”, Yuannan (China)
2012: Finalist “The 3rd Bangkok Triennial International Print Exhibition Bangkok Thailand 2012”, Bangkok (Thailand)
2011: Working visit “University of Zagreb/Croatia – Academy of Fine Arts” (Zagreb/Croatia)
