Andreas OPIOLKA

Robin VERMEERSCH

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Andreas Opiolka

Is an artist who prefers to work on a small scale, in series and in an abstract form language that is clearly based on a figurative subject. His works are very graphical, poetic and still. Even in his (small) paintings, he principally remains a designer, a translator of realistic images in abstract, sensitive and charming impressions. Traveling is extremely important to Opiolka. The encountering of new, unknown experiences and environments gives him impulses and inspiration for his artistic corpus, wherein already known and new systems and principles of organization take a large part. Traveling does not only lead to new processes and discoveries but also draws the attention to those things which weren’t even noticed, which passed by undetected.

Opiolka starts with a framework by depositing a concept, wherein he allows unpredictable developments that contribute to the image development. The conceptual planned approach of his works is connected to his reference points in reality. Each separate work contains all the essential characteristics of the whole series whereto the work belongs. Each work is a micro cosmos that contains and expresses at the same time the macro cosmos of the whole series. The works of Opiolka, and especially his paintings, are always multi-layered and always focus on to the happening in the periphery, both of the edited sheet or the painted surface, as of the subject to which reference is made. Most works of Andreas that are exposed at present are works on paper. From the artist’s point of view, the works on paper differ clearly from his more planned approach of his painting on canvas or panel and allows him a more unhindered and direct expression. An observation can be processed almost instantly but at the same time, it also makes the process more vulnerable.

The mood and attitude of the paintings on canvas or solid underground that are built up in layers, find themselves opposite to the spontaneous character and intimacy that is found in the partially roughly painted, incised and sketched paper surfaces of the works behind glass.

Robin Vermeersch

Is known for his shaded ink drawings and lavis drawings. Though his recent works are made on paper and with typical drawing materials as previously, namely Chinese ink, they obtain more the distinctiveness of a painting because the ink is diluted and is flattened with a brush on the underlay. Apart from the difference in applying the drawing and painting material, it is primarily the profound moderation and abstraction that catches the eye. The painted works are all produced on a medium-sized format contrary to the earlier works that were also and mainly produced on an A4-format.

Specifically the spaces that are left blank on the paper surface give the picture its actual form in the black and white works of Vermeersch. But since these flashing spaces are so scarcely present, his drawings become somewhat claustrophobic. Each drawing suggests a passage, an exit, an opening, a crack of light, sometimes even an open space, but mainly places us before obstacles and traps or catches us in a folding tangle. The drawings emerge pictures of rooms, corridors and tunnels as we know them from our dreams and nightmares. Not a living soul can be found in this world after the big clash.

The drawings are actually very traditional, both in terms of technique and material, as in drawing itself. The works remind us involuntary of the woodcuts of great Flemish artists from the past century, while at the same time, being very contemporary and referring to science-fiction of past and present. In these drawings, Robin Vermeersch has combined the heritage of long lost graphic techniques with the best of animation picture history and has created a new image vocabulary that equals in all ways the fantasy-magic of the computer generated images.

The sculptures of Robin Vermeersch offer different perspectives : one can see them as autonomic sculptures but also as displays or models. Therefore, also the relationships between the environment and the world may differ depending on the point of view one takes as a spectator. As an observer you can actively participate and determine the significance of the sculpture in the space. The artist is forcing us to take on a different attitude each time, depending on our intention: does one want to capture the whole picture or does one want to look at the installation from all angles and internally ? It is a sculpture whose meaning derives from its own shape, its own dimension. It is an image without scale ratio, it is perfect in its dimension as it stands there upon a pedestal that could very well be the transport crate of the piece.