I am very excited to tell you all about an AMAZING artist from Belgium named Anja Van Herle. Her work features classic and contemporary female portraits with a high fashion flare. I first saw her work walking by the Michael J. Wolf Fine Arts gallery on 5th Avenue in downtown San Diego & instantly became a huge fan. It was a pretty big deal for me because I love art, however there is not a certain type of art or artist who has really caught my attention. A few months later I was at the Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas for a hair competition in which I was nominated for an award. I was on my way to get my hair styled for the event and noticed a huge painting in the window of the Jack Gallery called “Queen for a Day” that caught my eye. Not just because I recognized the artist but also because woman in the image looked exactly like my best friend Marti. I took a picture with my phone and sent it to my friend. She quickly called me back and said that she had modeled for Anja months ago and had not seen the painting yet. She was so excited and said that I should work with the artist because she often will shoot models with creative hairstyles. She sent Anja my website with some of my work and a few months later I was styling hair for this amazing artist who I was a huge fan of. Anja had a really cool idea for a painting involving Coke can hair rollers. We did our first shoot together with the talented photographer Jenna Szabo in Hollywood, CA. Anja Van Herle is the sweetest most down to earth person I have ever met. Recently she had an exhibit at the Beverly Hills Affaire in the Gardens Art Festival were “Cancan” the first painting I styled hair for made its debut. She was such a pleasure to work with, and I can’t wait to work with her more in the future!
About Anja Van Herle:
Born in Belgium in 1969, Anja Van Herle combines a European sense of high fashion in her artwork with an American sense of wonder. Her childhood years were devoted to exploring the fundamentals of her art using crayons, pencils and watercolors. In 1987, she enrolled in Belgium’s Higher Institute for Art Education where she earned a Master’s of Fine Arts in Painting. In 2003, Anja relocated to Los Angeles, where she now concentrates on figurative paintings that are inspired by both classic and contemporary fashion while exploring issues of identity, emotion and human interrelationships. As timelessly chic as Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Anja’s women are playfully sexy, and their expressions and eyes tell stories that go far beyond the simple exhibition of fine fashion. In Anja’s masterful hands, fashion becomes alive. “These women—they feel,” Anja says
For more information on Ajna Van Herle please visit her website: www.anjav.com
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