Breaking the Cage
A talk by the Belgian artist Koen Van Mechelen
3pm, Wednesday 22 October 2008
Studio 55, Keyworth Building
London South Bank University
Keyworth Street
London SE1
Further details about the artist and his work appear below, courtesy of
curator Mike Phillips, who will be chairing the session.
[log in to unmask]
----
Breaking the Cage - The art of Koen Van Mechelen
Koen Van Mechelen (pronounced - Koon Von Mekkelin) is one of Europe's most
remarkable and most respected artists. The youngest son in a family of
academics, Koen defied family tradition to start his career as a gourmet chef,
and twelve years ago, converted his penchant for drawing and sculpting into a
full time occupation. If contemporary art features a conflict between
figuration and abstraction, Van Mechelen has clearly chosen the first, but his
representations of animals do not follow natural patterns.
They are immature, fragmented and uncertain in their outlines, different
stages of a never ending process, a staircase on their way to the
undefinable. Van Mechelen's work, therefore is not a reflection of the real.
He presents, instead, a still non-existent living entity which will become real
during the course of time. The work is a unique mix of different media and
materials from highly expressive paintings and drawings, to photography,
video, installations, works in glass and a recurring wooden sculpture. What
connects all these is his symbolic use of avian life, the imagery of the egg,
and a recurring wooden sculpture (Cosmogolem).
"I consider my work and everything that exists," Koen says, "in Hegelian
terms: thesis, antithesis and synthesis. But I dont know to which of the
three categories it belongs."
Koen Van Mechelen's work is currently displayed in India, South America, east
Africa and Europe. In his first large scale commission in Britain, a work for the
Victoria and Albert will go on display in November, to be followed by an
exhibition at the Los Angeles Art Fair, and a solo exhibition in Venice during
the 2009 Biennale.
Mike Phillips - Curator
|