Sjaak Smetsers (Venlo, 1954) is a Dutch poetic sculptor working in Tegelen.
After a career in refrigeration technology, Sjaak Smetsers decided to change course in the early 1990s and dedicate himself entirely to being an artist.
As an autodidact, he gradually discovers his preference for materials such as glass and various types of metal, such as bronze, copper, steel and (bronzed) tin, which he learns to work and combine in many different ways. Glass is processed with various tools and often fused together (glass fusing) into a colorful whole. Sometimes ceramic elements are also incorporated into his sculptures.
Sjaak Smetsers draws his inspiration from Western psychology, Eastern philosophy, nature and his wife and muse Lianne Smetsers - Sampers. He is an observer who expresses psychological and social insight in his work, combined with a good dose of humor.
The images of Sjaak Smetsers look sympathetic and paint a cheerful picture, but often literally have several faces. Behind the external beauty there is a deeper ethical charge, which only reveals itself in the second instance.
The sculptures of Sjaak Smetsers are mostly fantasy figures with human and animal characteristics. These images fit in well with the Western European tradition of fable figures found in medieval art. Think of the scenes on the facades of old churches and in the work of Hieronymus Bosch, for example.
In more recent history we find fantasy figures in the work of, among others, Cobra members Karel Appel, Eugène Brands, Corneille and Constant. The work of Sjaak Smetsers connects to a rich cultural tradition and is at the same time original and contemporary.
Sjaak Smetsers works in his studio in Tegelen, where he and his wife's gallery is also located, with the typical Limburg name Galerie Moeëjen Daag.
