Rinus Van De Velde 2017, Interview & expo Rinus Van de Velde by Tim Van Laere

Original publishers paper-covered boards, 108 pages , 25,5 x 21,5 cm, Illustrated. ISBN 9789082714517. This publication was made on the occasion of the fourth solo exhibition of Rinus Van de Velde at Tim Van Laere Gallery (7 september ? 21 october 2017). Van de Velde is one of the leading figures of the Belgian contemporary art scene. Over the past few years, he has built a strikingly coherent oeuvre, mainly consisting of monumental, narrative charcoal drawings. Although these drawings still play a prominent role in his work, Van de Velde evolves increasingly towards a ?total artist?, creating a tension between fiction and reality by the use of different media. This exhibition is Van de Velde?s first Belgian exhibition after his successful expo at the S.M.A.K. in 2016. Instead of relying on his previous success, Van de Velde wishes to walk new ways and to experiment with forms, compositions, styles and content. Here, Van de Velde creates his own universe by means of drawings, sculptures, decorative elements and ceramics. He was inspired by ?Prisoners of the Sun?, a volume of The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Herg . The simple plot and the surrealist compositions of this adventure story serve as the basis for a fragmentary interpretation in which one of the artist?s alter egos, the abstract expressionist artist Robert Rino, is being kidnapped by a collector. While the artist is forced to produce work, his two assistants are trying to rescue him. Van de Velde?s work blends reality and fantasy, creating a complex world in which documentation and fiction, reproduction and reconstruction intrinsically tie together.