Front Room / Birde Vanheerswynghels
19 Sep - 25 Oct 2020
What seems to be an observation of reality is actually a composed image from personal impressions.
Vanheerswynghels is known for her impressive large scale charcoal drawings of constructed and lush landscapes that stem from a mental archive of images. Considering the process of drawing as an analysis of shapes, Vanheerswynghels often explores the same subjects, like trees, bushes, flowers, ponds, plants and birds. By using different layers of colour and a combination of coloured pastel, charcoal and highlights made by erasing parts of the drawing, the work becomes rich in depth and details. In her new series of drawings we see an enhanced adaption of techniques, creating a rich variety of patterns and contrasts.
Rendering her subjects enlarged and overly dimensional, the photographic space of the images becomes alienated and the spectator is tricked. In her work process she recreates the transit from figuration to abstraction and back again by starting from photographs, mainly self made polaroids. As the foundation for her drawings, these polaroids act as fragments of a composition that becomes a newly composed image, Vanheerswynghels’ research into colour continues in a series of new pigment prints. Instead of a piece of blank paper she uses a blow-up of a digital manipulated image. Adding layers of pigment to the print, a new image arises which challenges the boundaries between drawing and photography.
Vanheerswynghels is known for her impressive large scale charcoal drawings of constructed and lush landscapes that stem from a mental archive of images. Considering the process of drawing as an analysis of shapes, Vanheerswynghels often explores the same subjects, like trees, bushes, flowers, ponds, plants and birds. By using different layers of colour and a combination of coloured pastel, charcoal and highlights made by erasing parts of the drawing, the work becomes rich in depth and details. In her new series of drawings we see an enhanced adaption of techniques, creating a rich variety of patterns and contrasts.
Rendering her subjects enlarged and overly dimensional, the photographic space of the images becomes alienated and the spectator is tricked. In her work process she recreates the transit from figuration to abstraction and back again by starting from photographs, mainly self made polaroids. As the foundation for her drawings, these polaroids act as fragments of a composition that becomes a newly composed image, Vanheerswynghels’ research into colour continues in a series of new pigment prints. Instead of a piece of blank paper she uses a blow-up of a digital manipulated image. Adding layers of pigment to the print, a new image arises which challenges the boundaries between drawing and photography.