KOEN VAN DEN BROEK – APEX
2013-04-29In this body of large-scale work van den Broek uses the history of his own paintings as a reference point and conceives fresh commentaries on abstraction. He formally resolves his signature tension between the photographic and the painterly, transcending from referential and cerebral to the experiential and spiritual.
A trained architect, van den Broek uses light, shape, and repetition to build generic structures, be it natural or man-made, through layering and the application of vibrant colors. Shadows cast by anonymous buildings, cracks in sun baked pavement, and lonely overpass bridges suggest human presence and a narrative long past. His preference for the casual and reflective aligns with Edward Hopper and Wayne Thiebaud.
Known for employing photographic images taken on road trips as the basis for his work – from Belgium to Tokyo, Chicago, Los Angeles and beyond, with this new series van den Broek abandons this alibi, and with it, the inherent distancing and melancholic effects. Instead, he samples the 20th and 21st century, as seen through his own eyes, invoking Abstract Expressionism in the vein of Clyfford Still infused with the self-conscious and self-referential characteristics of American Conceptualism.
Opposite – Torque #7
Exhibition runs through to May 24th, 2013
Friedman Benda
515 West 26th Street
New York
NY
10001
