George Smits (

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, 1944–1997), aka 'Toet', was a Belgian

visual artist The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...

, comics artist, radio presenter,

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

ian and inventor of

experimental musical instrument An experimental musical instrument (or custom-made instrument) is a musical instrument that modifies or extends an existing instrument or class of instruments, or defines or creates a new class of instrument. Some are created through simple modif ...

Biography

In the sixties, he was a member of the band of

Ferre Grignard Ferre Grignard (13 March 1939 – 8 August 1982) was a Belgian skiffle-singer from Antwerp, Belgium. He had success with a number of songs, such as "Ring Ring, I've Got To Sing", "Yama, Yama, Hey", and "My Crucified Jesus". Biography Ferre ...

. Smits was also active as an actor in a few movies, and was part of Antwerp's underground arts scene (e.g. the Ercola collective and also part of Fred Bervoets band and

Panamarenko Henri Van Herwegen (5 February 1940 – 14 December 2019), known by the pseudonym Panamarenko, was a prominent assemblagist Belgian sculptor. Famous for his work with aeroplanes as theme; none of which are able nor constructed to actually leave ...

). Besides his musical career, he was active as a painter, comics artist and an experimental musician with his own radio show on the Belgian public radio Radio Centraal. This radio show, broadcast at night, gave Smits the motivation to increasingly focus on creating music (leaving some of his paintings unfinished), using instruments he had invented himself as well as effects, but also, gradually, new electronic tools. Smith prepared his radio show very precisely, spending about 20 hours recording sounds in advance of the broadcast. On his program, he used the pseudonym Captain Zbolk.https://www.jahsonic.com/GeorgeSmits.html George Smits is mostly known for his self-created musical instruments. Many of Smits' instruments are acoustic and made with

polystyrene Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic polymer made from monomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It is a ...

, large springs and long strings.

Discography

* Zbolk Night Radio, (1997, Audioview/Lowlands AUDIO-002, 70'01") * Toet (Audioview/Lowlands Distribution)

Sources

References

Lambiek Comiclopedia article.

(The interview was a few months before he died in 1997) {{DEFAULTSORT:Smits, George Belgian painters Belgian comics artists Belgian radio presenters 1944 births 1997 deaths Artists from Antwerp Musicians from Antwerp 20th-century Belgian musicians 20th-century Belgian artists Underground cartoonists Belgian experimental musicians Inventors of musical instruments