How do you describe your own art practice?
Not a clue at all. Hard to say when you are in the middle of all this.
For me, it feels like making a certain body of work followed out of a wide interest field by putting it all in a blender for the perfect smoothie. classical painting, graphic design, printing techniques, book collecting…
installation view, scenography Theo De Meyer, Berthold Pott gallery Cologne 2019
Which question or theme is central in your work?
Hard to say what is the theme, as I never thought about this at all. For me, my practice is about development and research. There is no specific theme actually. I like to keep things open on whatever crosses my path in the studio. The questioning of the practice is more evident to me, as I try to think about a classic medium as painting in another translation a sort of graphical archival input to deal with ‚painting’.
installation view - duoshow Jérome Pauchant gallery Paris
What was your first experience with art?
I was born and live in Ghent, Belgium. It is a nice and vibrant city that has more of a village atmosphere when you are part of it. It has an assortment of talented artists, musicians, actors, screenplay writers, architects, and much more. A good mixture of creative people. I started engaging with art very naturally, when I was a kid I found it fascinating to be dragged into my own fantasy and world through the creation of silly drawings. During my puberty, I was directly dragged into graffiti and started painting with spray cans for many years. Eventually, this went hand in hand with experimenting on canvas, going to exhibitions, and collecting art books.
120x180cm
UV print on mesh fabric, cardboard, acrylics, metal on canvas 2018
What is your greatest source of inspiration?
I am highly interested in graphic design and techniques in the commercial field. I try to combine them by rethinking what the medium of classical painting is all about. I try to tell narrative stories about the painting process itself in other mediums. I am all about reproductions in different mediums like scenography and sculptures. You could compare it to a novel that becomes a play or movie by telling or translating it into a new medium and create a certain distance in a technique that actually tries to tell the same. At the start of my career, I painted a lot with oil paint on canvas. After a while I didn’t know what to do as I quickly learn technical stuff, getting me bored easily. I tried to make it more complex for myself. I feel like I look at my work as someone who wants to document it or as a salesman trying to sell the ‘painting medium’ in the best way possible to myself.
wormhole 18, 210×260 cm
Uv print, mesh fabric, acrylic on canvas, 2019
What do you need in order to create your work?
I like structural chaos in the practice. During the process in the studio, I try to have a balance between being extremely focused and on the other hand try not to be there mentally. This only works perfectly by working on different stuff at once. Making a book, studying works, paintings, etc. By focusing on one work and being surrounded by many others works good for the mindset. Having a certain focus on one thing and meanwhile having visual snapshots and walking around the studio solves problems in other works. Mainly the focus on work is more a distraction to find solutions in others…
printrolls, 50x12x6 cm
Cardboard, uv print, mesh fabric, metal, 2019
What work or artist has most recently surprised you?
Many, and in a wide diversity. I like everything about some artists’ work, from others just some of their series or the philosophy behind their work. Most of them are graphically inspired or work with a lot of mediums. Magali Reus, Will Benedict, Frederik Vaerslev, Mattias Faldbakken, Wade Guyton, Seth Price, Camille Henrot, & Ettore Spalletti to name a few.
wormhole 15, 100x200cm
uv print, mesh fabric, acrylic medium canvas 2018
