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Belgische kunstenaar Hans Vandekerckhove

Vandekerckhove Hans

Hans Vandekerckhove is a Belgian artist born in Kortrijk in 1957. He is a painter and printmaker. Education in art history. Self-taught in visual arts, but had some training as a free student at various art schools and academies. Incorporates both abstract and figurative elements in his compositions. Debuted in the early 1980s in a design that referred to Flemish expressionism. From the outset, his work emanated a great contemplative power, a strong modesty, with life-size characters who seemed to dream or wait away standing or sitting. From 1989, aware of the primary value of painting, he returned to elementary motifs and signs. Thus, synthesized representations of concepts were created on a sometimes rather strongly considered decorative background, from which he wanted to break free again in the 1990s, driven by a strongly expressive and emotionally charged character. Repeatedly discussed the theme of the enclosed garden, the "hortus conclusus". From the press: "In his works the dream or thought clearly runs simultaneously with reality and within the same temporal and material fact" and "In his recent paintings he undertakes a nostalgic search for his childhood memories and, more generally, for the lost paradise” (1998) and “The Paintings of HV stand out for their well-chosen, luminous colors and the refinement of their structure; it is as if a whole, organic world breathes beneath the performance. The artist paints one transparent layer on top of the other, and all those layers make the canvas lively and intriguing. As if something is constantly happening in the painting. H.V. celebrates nature in its rampant beauty, but at the same time he strives for greater clarity and precision in his performances.” (J. Van Hove, 2004) Also fascinated by the world of cyclists and the landscapes they cross (2000). Work purchased by the Flemish Community in 1986/1987. Mentioned in the Lexicon of West Flemish visual artists I (1992) and Two centuries of signatures of Belgian artists. Source: Paul Piron, The Belgian visual artists from the 19th to the 21st century.