Exhibition Catalogue
“Works series 2020 / 2021” by Stéphane Vereecken GALLERY
SNEHTA
NODNOL EXHIBITIONS
Introduction Photography is the basis of my work. My first photos were Polaroids, with paint on them. I started very young to exhibit in galleries with artists like Araki, Dolores Marat, Paul Mc Carthy in Brussels at the Damasquine Art Gallery in Brussels. Since then, I have exhibited in Europe ( Greece, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain… ) and in the United States in New York. I explore the relationship between human beings, their sociological condition and their futures. Both raw and surreal, my images explore alternative forms of existence. My images are surreal photographs. The drawings, fragmented and incomplete, represent an unfinished story Stéphane Vereecken’s works are centered on the human being, the different stories surrounding our species and our goal in a constantly changing world. Both raw and surreal, his works explore alternative forms of existence. In his most recent series, the artist began to draw on his models, as well as the floors and walls of his compositions. The drawings, fragmented and incomplete, represent an ongoing process, a potential future and an unfinished story to tell, with his drawings on the bodies
Work 1
60 X 50 PHOTOGRAPHY
Work 2
150 X 180 PHOTOGRAPHY
Work 3
60 X 50 PHOTOGRAPHY
Work 6
50 X 50 PHOTOGRAPHY
Work 7
50 X 50 PHOTOGRAPHY
Artist Interview What is your favourite art movement up to the 20th Century and how has it affected your work?
Since I started to create I have been naturally driven by surrealism and conceptualism. The line between the two is sometimes thin. The surrealist has no defined limits and can experience anything because everything comes out of his dreams. I dream a lot, I wake up and write down my ideas. The conceptual artist designates a way of creating and abstraction is never far away. This is how I define myself. Between the figurative and the abstract message.
Where do you reside and how would you describe the art scene in your country?
I live in Belgium, but I have traveled a lot. So I feel like a free artist and I don't have a particular attachment to my country. I don't know Belgian artists well. From the Internet I look at international artists with a lot of freedom. There is a star in Belgium and that’s Michael Borremans. I like his free style and also academic. But he made something of more great again.
What is your working day like?
I check my many emails and answer everyone. It takes me two hours. I work on a computer and more exactly on my large Ipad. I take my photos on a small camera and have been working on an Ipad for several years. Currently my work is between photography and painting. I draw a lot too. I often forget to eat and try with great pain to detach myself from my work before the end of the day. I then respond on social networks and usually in the evening I join my friends. I have a normal life, but my job is not normal.
What is your favorite part of this job?
Drawings and sketches before starting a real work. I also take notes on the nuances of the colors and of course I try to make all the images conceptual and intellectual. Then it's like a puzzle or a little child game, I put all the material together to make a finished and complete picture.
What is your most important artistic tool? Is there something you can't live without your studio?
A pencil, a notebook and drawings. It will be difficult to do without it. Then I scan my notes and my drawings and I archive in my phone. They are accessible all the time for me.
How have you developed in your career over the past 5 years and where do you see yourself in 5 years from now?
In five years I can see myself with more gray hair and more works. For five years my career as an artist has been going well, I usually do twenty exhibitions in a year. My work has evolved in the sense that I have moved from photography to an art that is difficult to define. It’s not painting and it’s not really photography anymore. I am looking in my laboratory for a new form of hybrid art.
How do you define success in an artist's career?
I believe that success motivates in artistic work, but it is also a trap. There is a great temptation to do the same thing and the same work all your life. The trap is there.
How do you deal with the art scene during/after the Coronavirus pandemic?
I went from an exhibit on a wall to a virtual exhibit and found that enjoyable and great too. My work on the computer and on the Ipad does not suffer in a virtual exhibition. On the contrary, it is an excellent place for my style of work. I had a lot of suggestions during the pandemic and I tried to do my best to make people happy. Today there are more proposals to do exhibitions on the walls as before. I'm doing both today. I am delighted to be doing my solo exhibition today. It's a good thing for me.
What are the next steps in your career?
I would like to make video and films too. My moving images would be a step up. I would also like to do sculpture and video sculpture. Today I correspond a lot with artists who do that sort of thing.
Is there something people need to know about you or the way you think so they can understand your artwork?
I was born with a disability in my legs. I have had surgery several times for this. I move around the Earth differently and I don't have the same spatial conception of moving as someone else, it influences how I work and how I present things and people in my images. I believe that the people who are standing in my works are in a special way. I believe that my way of understanding the world is different and I believe that my sensitivity to people's misfortunes is different too. I’m a person with a lot of empathy and my images reflect this thing, all these feelings and my life experiences. I tell unfinished stories and my evolution as a man is also unfinished and uncertain.
Work 9
70 X 50 PHOTOGRAPHY
Work 19
40 X 30 PHOTOGRAPHY
Work 22
60 X 50 PHOTOGRAPHY
Work 25
50 X 50 PHOTOGRAPHY
Work 28
50 X 50 PHOTOGRAPHY
Work 29
50 X 50 PHOTOGRAPHY
Work 33
50 X 50 PHOTOGRAPHY
Work 35
50 X 50 PHOTOGRAPHY
Work 36
50 X 50 PHOTOGRAPHY
Work 39
50 X 50 PHOTOGRAPHY
Work 40
60 X 50 PHOTOGRAPHY
Work 41
50 X 60 PHOTOGRAPHY
Work 50
60 X 50 PHOTOGRAPHY
Work 53
60 X 50 PHOTOGRAPHY
Work 54
40 X 40 PHOTOGRAPHY
vereeckenstephane.wixsite.com/stephanevereecken
@stephanevereecken
“WORKS SERIES 2020 / 2021” by Stéphane Vereecken