RM Book Highlight: Stuff by Koen van den Broek
The work of Belgian artist Koen van den Broek (° 1973) is characterized thematically in the first instance by the way in which the urban (mainly American and Asian) landscape is treated.
Van den Broek is mainly interested in the image and the structure of the image itself and is less concerned with the painterly touches or the transfer of a message. For his compositions, the painter starts from photographic images, which has consequences for the composition. Because of his framing, he always seems to omit the most important thing. As a result, his paintings often show unimportant details or objects such as garages, shadows or cracks in the road surface. Van den Broek often uses saturated colors. In his work space is created by the boundaries, and light is evoked by shadow, without halftones. This often gives his work a graphic character, with a pure colorite.
STUFF offers an overview of ten years of public art projects and contains an in-depth interview by Prof. Wouter Davidts about what this practice means for Van den Broek. For this publication, the artist made new sketches on tracing paper that provide insight into his working process and interaction with his paintings. The book is richly illustrated and contains never before published images of designs, models, work in progress and temporary, executed and non-executed artworks.
Details:
Koen van den Broek: Stuff
Wouter Davidts, Frank Albers
MER.Borgerhoff & Lamberigts, 2019
€39,95
Available at Galerie Ron Mandos. To order your copy please contact us via phone at +0031 203 20 70 36
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The Beginning by Koen van den Broek
On view until 13.06.2020
Galerie Ron Mandos
Prinsengracht 282, by appointment only
RM Online Viewing Room: https://ronmandos.nl/view…/koen-van-den-broek-the-beginning/
ABOUT Koen van den Broek
Koen van den Broek was born in 1973 in Bree, Belgium
He lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium
Born in 1973 in the Belgian town of Bree, Koen van den Broek first studied architecture and subsequently painting, initially at the Royal Academy of Antwerp and then at the Academy of Visual Arts of Breda. In his opinion, despite his painting studies, he has always remained an architect at heart. Ever since his student days, van den Broek has travelled constantly: around Europe, to the USA, Mexico and even to Korea. Always with his camera close to hand. He takes photos, a lot of photos, which all depict the same subject: the architectural interventions of man on the landscape.
Early in his career, Koen van den Broek developed a fascination for desolate landscapes in which man rarely appears, but always makes his presence felt. He depicts the traces left behind on roads, streets and houses that have been abandoned. The artist’s perception of roads and borders in barren lands has provided the painter with impulses that enable him to make his specific statement on landscape painting. Van den Broek operates by turning his face downwards and zooming in on the irregularities of the pavement, on curb stones and shadows. It is this very search for a subject of representation that led the artist on a journey closer to abstraction.
Works by Koen van den Broek are part of major public collections, including the LACMA, Los Angeles; SMAK, Ghent; M HKA, Antwerp; Busan Museum of Art, Busan; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle. His work has been presented at the Venice Biennial (2015 & 2017); White Cube, London; Kunstmuseum, Bonn; Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Antwerp and Brussels; Seoul Arts Centre, Seoul; Kunsthalle, Mannheim; Royal Academy, London; MAS, Antwerp, and Kunsthal, Rotterdam; His work can also be found in numerous public spaces in Belgium, such as the Hofkamer, Antwerp; ‘t Zilte, MAS, Antwerp; AZSM Hospital, Mechelen, and the Provinciehuis, Hasselt.
