ANJA VAN HERLE

(°1969, Beringen, Belgium), Belgian artist.

Anja was a student at the PHIKO in Hasselt (Belgium,
1987, Master of Fine Arts in Painting). She met her future husband Kris, the son of an emigrated Belgian family (originally from Genk), at a wedding in Los Angeles. Anja has been living and working in LA since 2003. She makes playful large-scale paintings, on which usually an idealised face of a woman with styled hair, a lot of make-up, glasses and sparkling jewellery is depicted. She often uses Swarovski crystals. She makes pop art with acrylic paint on wood, which she prefers to call figurative art.

Her artworks can be found in collections around the world, even in the houses of celebrities (David Guetta, Paula Abdul, Prince Albert II of Monaco, Belgian tennis player Xavier Malisse …). They have been exhibited in numerous cities, not only in the United States, but also in Japan, France, Belgium …

The LA glamour radiates from her paintings. She combines two of her passions in them: fashion and painting. The big eyes of the models with bright make-up speak volumes and elegant oversized (sun)glasses finish the picture with even more drama. Glasses and make-up give her paintings that extra colourful touch.

“IF THE EYES ARE THE WINDOW TO THE SOUL, THEN GLASSES ARE MORE THAN JUST
AN ACCESSORY.”