WALTER SWENNEN – WORKS ON PAPER
2014-12-15A new exhibition dedicated to the graphic work of Walter Swennen (b. 1946, Brussels). The presentation focuses on the last three decades of the artist’s career and brings together over 130 works on paper in a variety of media.
Walter Swennen is a painter and a draughtsman in equal measure. While his works in oil often engage with the complex questions inherent to the art of painting – its potential and limitations; what, why and how to paint – his works on paper can be read as the laboratory that not only fuels his ideas, but also points to possible answers. Like his paintings, Swennen’s sketches take the form of enigmatic compositions of recognisable elements: words, letters, pictograms, heraldic devices, strip cartoon figures, advertising slogans, geometric forms, animals, stereotypical characters and everyday imagery. Although this gives rise to obvious visual correspondences between certain paintings and drawings, and a sketch might form a springboard for a larger work, his graphics are always autonomous creations. Often executed in layers and in mixtures of pencil, ink, watercolour, pen or crayon, they can be viewed as a visual compendium of ideas, insights, discoveries, juxtapositions and associations.
Opposite – Untitled, 2012
Exhibition runs through to January 17th, 2015
Xavier Hufkens
107 rue St-Georges | St-Jorisstraat
B – 1050 Brussels
Belgium
