What drives him is showing the thing as a thing: the pure object in its essence. He tries to make visible the invisible and often forgotten essence of the everyday.
Jean de Groote's artistic universe is populated by everyday objects such as a cardboard box, a pair of glasses, or a loaf of bread. He always paints these separately, without context or embellishment, emphasizing that beauty is never his goal. What drives him is showing the thing as a thing: the pure object in its essence. He tries to make visible the invisible and often forgotten essence of the everyday.
This is in line with Heidegger, who argued that we usually only see things in terms of their usefulness and thus forget their true presence. Jean de Groote wants to break through this utilitarian screen and let things speak in their silent presence. His approach is also reminiscent of Dôgen, the founder of Zen meditation, who argued that the reality of things only reveals itself in the here and now.
This Zen attitude is fundamental to his work: he becomes one with the object he paints in order to experience its true nature. In doing so, he touches on a mystical dimension that refers to silence, emptiness, and the inexpressible.
Yet his oeuvre is not entirely serious; humor and irony play an important role. Self-mockery and playful absurdity can be found in his works. He also presents himself with a wink as “Directeur de la Conserverie des sardines Belges” (Director of the Belgian Sardine Preserve).
In summary, his work shows three interrelated dimensions: the serenity of still life, the mysticism of the sublime, and the irony of the burlesque. Jean de Groote is thus steadily building a unique pictorial universe that holds up a mirror to us and reveals the deeper layers of reality.