My people (2012) Drawing by Eric G. C. Weets

Eric G. C. Weets is born on 3rd August 1951, in Merksem, Belgium.
Eric spent the first 16 years of his life in a small village Ekerendonk, outside the city of Antwerp, with his maternal grand parents.
At the age of 6, he declared, in front of the Head Master and before a class full of 6 year olds, he wanted to become an art painter.

On finishing his primary school, Mr. Driesens, the Head Master of the local boys school, advices him to join the school of Decorative Arts in Antwerp. His grandparents didn’t see any future in arts, and decide with all the best intentions thinkable, to send the boy to the local athenaeum where they thought he would at least learn to get butter on his bread. This leads, from the first day of school, to a grandiose disaster. Eric becomes one of the worst students in the school’s history.
1965 : Left Royal Athenaeum Ekeren, happily.
- Learns the profession of diamond cutting.
- Studies art history with the help of local librarian.
-Visits, on regular basis, the Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, especially to see the big works of Ensor and Delvaux.
1966-67: Under the influence of the 60’s, experiments with pictures and sound, using all kinds of mediums like copper, steel, canvas, paper, parts of old radios, tape recorders etc. The paintings of Fred Bervoets and the piano concertos of Fred Van Hoof, free jazz musician, are eye openers for Eric.
-Attends a course of Blues and Jazz and is fascinated by free Jazz in particular.
-Along with Marcel Willem, a Roman Catholic priest, Eric organizes happenings, group sessions and poetry evenings.
-Attempts composing music for guitar, 3 small tape recorders, an electronic device made from the coils of a battery and an old radio.

1968: Eric exhibits couple of pen drawings and oil paintings in a group exhibition organized by Espedic at Merksem.
1970: Dre Van Den Broeck, a painter from Antwerp, sees potential in Eric’s work and invites him to his atelier to watch, learn and paint if he wants. Eric visits on a regular basis Van Den Broeck’s atelier.
- Learns guitar from Marcel Bocu, a renowned guitar teacher in Antwerp.
- Declares that he’ll never work from Monday to Friday and starts working only on weekends as professional dishwasher and baby sitter.
1971: Eric, along with Marcel Willem and other friends, is invited by numerous cultural organizations to give lectures on the new way of living, the hippy sub-culture, flower-power and the non-conformist life style.
1973: After failing to organize a band, Eric puts together couple of public performances on his own, but because of his uncontrollable stage fear, decides never to perform again.
-Small exhibition at the local gallery. Is not happy with what he puts on the canvas and starts rethinking the whole process. Doubts the value of art in general.
1974: Eric makes a couple of trips to Amsterdam but notices times have change and is totally disappointed in the commercialization of the hippy movement. Utopia...

• Nationality: BELGIUM
• Date of birth : 1951
• Artistic domains:
• Groups: Contemporary Belgian Artists