GEUKENS & DE VIL, ANTWERP

Stijn Cole (BE) - 2 large Windows

Stijn Cole's paintings are extended abstractions of landscapes. In his earlier works he reduced the image in a purely conceptional way into bi-color surfaces in key-colors. His most recent paintings have the landscape image as a starting base. Cole reduces photographic landscapes into summations of colors, 256 in total, the number of colors found in an internet image. These colors are classified, by means of computer analyses, on a scale from light to dark. By choosing landscapes, the artist joins the long tradition in landscape painting. His contemporary interpretation of the genre connects with former elements in his oeuvre. His earlier works also pass through a digital filter before their final result is accomplished. This initializes the clean and technical character of his work although the chosen subject also generates a certain poetic feel. Through the process of painting, Cole uplifts the technical appearance of his earlier images. This allows room for imperfections, the gloss of the paint has an influence on the image and the artist's brushstrokes can be felt. Skill overcomes concept. The painting in itself is reduced to and used in its purest form: the mixing and arranging of colors. The Found Footage series is based upon anonymous landscapes downloaded by the artist from the internet. The date-tagged works, always produced in pairs, are based upon personal photographs. Both images represent the same landscape but in a different time-set with a different color scheme. This allows the element of time to seep into this medium.

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