HAPPY SAD

Just as the career of young artist Daan Gielis (34) is gaining momentum, his health suddenly deteriorates. Daan suffers from an autoimmune disease and must undergo a highly risky heart operation as soon as possible. In HAPPY SAD, Daan and his partner Lotte share how they navigate between hope and fear during the final six months leading up to the surgery. With his characteristic drive—and courage born of desperation—Daan continues working steadily on his oeuvre until he is wheeled into the operating room: “There’s no more escape…”

Daan has lived with juvenile scleroderma since childhood—a disease that affects the connective tissue in nearly all organs, including the heart. The illness, and how to cope with it, forms the starting point of Daan’s artistic practice and shapes his search for meaning in—and of—life.

Daan’s neon works are now exhibited internationally. His striking installation HAPPY SAD is a large luminous smiley that both laughs and cries. In Daan’s life, happiness never comes without sadness. By expressing this personal experience through emojis—universally recognizable symbols—his work becomes relatable to everyone. Daan’s unique and deceptively simple visual language leaves no one untouched: young flowers in colored neon that wither before they even bloom (“a self-portrait”), a bronze depiction of the cheerful adventurer Tintin slumped in exhaustion, a paradisiacal ceramic island with sorrowful palm trees growing toward each other. His works are often dark, yet there is always a glimmer of light breaking through.

As Daan grapples with an existential crisis in the final months before the operation, he continues working tirelessly to complete as many pieces as possible before going under the knife. He finds support in family and friends, collaborators, and fellow artists. Time is pressing, as no one can predict what will follow the surgery.

HAPPY SAD explores the inseparable bond between creation and transience—a central theme in Daan’s work. It is a film about a life devoted to art, and the art of living.