About Montana Engels
MONTANA ENGELS is a contemporary artist, born in Belgium.
Short bio:
Montana is a young female artist who invented a new way of painting portraits. Using only stripes Montana creates a realistic portrait that looks abstract up close but becomes more detailed once people take a step back from the painting.
Montana was always creative but her hobby became a career after Belgiums Got Talent. There she became noticed, reached a broader audience and was quickly asked by the Hazard (football) family to paint for them live.
Montana Continues her career painting for more celebrities, the prince of Belgium, paints at Tomorrowland, countless events, weddings and parties, internationally. Additionally, she did brand collabs with brands such as: MAC cosmetics, Disney, Aston Martin, Playstation, MINI, The national Lottery, Sherathon, Qmusic, Monster, Jägermeister, Lolaliza, Bombay Sapphire, Gaston Luga, Tao, Bowmore, Binck Bank, Deme, Suspicious Antwerp, Antwerp Diamond museum, and many more...
Studies
She studied at the Antwerp International School. Where she claimed to have discovered that the most difficult field in art; portraits, was something she was quite good at. She won the IB Art award in 2011, organized her own exhibition and graduated that same year with a full grade of 100% for Fine Arts. Montana then went to Paris, where she studied Art History & Marketing in French at IESA. She continued to perfect her art while drawing portraits inspired by feelings or the beautiful city she lived in at that time.
Art style
She is well known for her "STRIPED" artworks where she uses only lines to create a painting or portrait. The play of shade, light and thickness of the lines make her work so complex. There is a whole thought process behind every line in relation to the next and previous line. This style makes the painting abstract, up close but more detailed the FURTHER you stand away from it. This unique striped concept is Montana's signature style.
Brand collaborations, are something she loves doing on a regular basis. She paints on walls, cars, helmets, bags, jackets, ... or designs work on bottles, labels, T-shirts or all kinds of products.
Montana discovered a way to make Art very accessible to a large public. This skill she discovered by participating Belgiums Got Talent, where she painted Michael Jackson in 2 minutes. In a few minutes Montana can transform a large empty canvas into a masterpiece. The whole audience is her witness when she creates one of her original speed painting acts. Special about her acts is that she does not only use paint on canvas. She invented different ways to surprise her audience, time and time again.
"Art should always stay a skill"
"The thing I like about the use of abstract in my paintings is that it allows you to feel with your eyes. The reason I like to combine this with realism is because Art should stay a skill." Montana says. She believes strongly that the 'trend' of all abstract and the 'shocking value' of it is very 'today'. The art of tomorrow is fed up with incompetence and will go back to the true meaning of Art: which is beauty, quality, originality and skill.
