There is something fishy about Gijs Vanhee

There is something fishy about Gijs Vanhee

By Bjørn Van Poucke

Since Gijs Vanhee is really kicking some nautical ass over in Belgium (click these or those underlined bits of text for some top notch examples), we felt the urge to have a little chat with the captain himself.

Gijs Vanhees
Gijs Vanhees

Sketches, murals and canvases; apparently you have quite some creative energy to be released. When did Gijs realise he had some talent to offer?

That’s a hard question. I can’t really put a date on it, I like drawing and inventing things since I was very little. I can remember being forced to wipe-off tables in primary school for having them sketched all over. I’ve noticed over the last years that I just have to create in order to be happy.

Gijs Vanhee
Gijs Vanhee

The majority of your work is tinted by a nautical theme, can you enlighten us why you are so hardly drawn towards the sea and its habitants?

There are a few reasons I guess. I’m in love with surfing. Most of my journeys are pointed towards the ocean, seeking waves, enjoying real freedom. I get a lot of energy from surfing and being wiped out in ocean water. I like to believe that my drawings help me remember that. Somehow it became more and more my theme. Also a strange thing happened to me lately. In some conversations peoples faces start to mutate in a head of a fish while they are talking to me. At that moment it gets very hard for me to focus!

Gijs Vanhee
Gijs Vanhee

What does future hold for Gijs? Is there anything out there you still personally want to achieve? 

I don’t have a clue really. Just keep on going and growing, that’s what it ’s all about isn’t it?

Check out more amazing Belgian street artists on streetartbelgium.com

Gijs Vanhee
Gijs Vanhee
Gijs Vanhee
Gijs Vanhee