Take a dive into Jasper Nollet’s extraterrestrial landscapes
The NUCLEO studio Jasper runs on Abeelstraat is small, but packed with stories. His desk is covered with books on Byzantine art and two thick folders. Inside, he keeps a collection of screenshots, photos from exhibitions, and images he finds online. Together, they form a sort of visual archive. 'There’s a system to it,' Jasper laughs. 'but for anyone else, it’s probably almost impossible to unravel.'
Just looking inside those folders quickly reveals one of his greatest fascinations: extraterrestrial life. That interest started back in high school. What began with an app that maps stars and planets grew into the desire to find other life forms out there. 'On this little planet, I often feel a bit like an alien. That’s why my work also reflects a kind of escapist dream: the idea that there might be more out there beyond this world. It’s no coincidence that my thesis was titled asjeblief ontvoer mij (‘Please Abduct Me’): it was a direct plea to aliens to take me away.'
When you flip through his sketchbooks or look at his ceramic bas-reliefs, you immediately recognize the aliens: large skulls, black eyes, and tiny limbs. The figures seem directly from a sci-fi movie, and that’s no coincidence. 'I deliberately depict aliens in a fairly stereotypical way,' Jasper explains. 'I think such a recognizable image is important. My drawings are often very detailed, and the aliens almost serve as a kind of anchoring point.'
He builds entire worlds around these figures. Landscapes and villages frequently form the backdrop for scenes in which his aliens gather. 'I usually draw places where I’d like to be myself,” he continues. 'Especially down-to-earth scenes where people gather to eat or drink often appear.
At the start of his Illustration studies at LUCA School of Arts, Jasper’s work was still very two-dimensional. Until he began searching for a way to give his images more depth. 'When I painted or drew aliens, my work quickly ended up in the territory of comics like Rick & Morty,' he explains. 'I didn’t necessarily want to go down that path, so I started looking for a way to make my drawings a little less flat.'
On this little planet, I often feel a bit like an alien. That’s why my work also reflects a kind of escapist dream: the idea that there might be more out there beyond this world.
Pretty soon, he discovered that ceramics turned out to be the ideal medium for his work. As soon as he began experimenting with it, he was thrilled to see that his drawings became more layered. His exploration into the colors of different glazes also brought a more otherworldly quality to his work. 'My images usually start in my sketchbook, after which I transfer them to tiles,' Jasper continues. 'Ceramics is a very slow way of working. That’s completely at odds with how chaotic I am and how quickly I want to create work. I’ve made the mistake of rushing to start drawing on clay more than once.'
And suppose he ever actually meets an alien? Does he already have a welcome gift ready?
'I’d mainly take the size of the piece into account,' Jasper confides. 'According to many theories, aliens seem to be rather small. Of course, they’d have to be able to take it back to their planet. I’d want to think carefully about what I give them. But I’m actually most curious about what they look like. I wonder if they look anything like how I’ve been portraying them all this time.'
