Rik De Boe
In his latest charcoal drawings, Rik De Boe deals again with motifs between interior and exterior space, with house facades and interiors, with doors and windows, curtains and blinds. At the same time, he creates images of art, showing paintings by Piet Mondrian and other artists of modern abstraction, reflecting all kinds of spatial effects of their environment.
Scenes like these and others – sometimes objectivly cool, sometimes atmospherically shimmering – are reminiscent of snapshots or frozen film stills that revolve around elementary processes of perception and evoke memories of mental images: Accompanied by a permanent change of perspective and scale, they become hinges of an ongoing, fragmentary exploration of space, condensing iconically as in a "camera obscura".
For his charcoal drawings, the belgian artist uses either white or light blue paper, creating very different moods of light. Recently, however, pure colour has also come into play, either as a fleeting appearance or in accentuating individual pictorial motifs. And while for many years the artist used a medium standard size for all his works, recently he has been producing much larger drawings, which were on show at the gallery in early 2023.
VITA
1964
born in Ninove, Belgium
1982-88
Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Gent
1989-91
Higher Technical Institute Sint-Antonius, Gent
1985
1st Prize for graphic arts, Flanders
1988
1st Prize for graphic arts, Flanders
seit 1990
Teacher for graphic and drawing, Academy of Fine Arts, Brussel
1994
1st Prize Jacques De Leger
1996-2016
Founder and curator of artist-run space Voorkamer, Lier (with Peter Morrens)
2007-13
Professor for drawing, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Gent
lives and works in Ninove, Belgium
EXHIBITIONS & SCREENINGS (SELECTION SINCE 2000)
2024
Le Temps, L’Espace, La Distance, Chateau de Beaurepaire, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Loudun
Cluster Bubble V, WAAR Omsland, Arnhem
De Laatste doet het Licht uit, Rossi Contemporary, Brussels (with Jean-Louis Micha)
2023
Echtzeit, Rasche Ripken, Berlin
2022
De Schaar van de Schorpioen, Galerie Nasty Alice + Huis Henk Visch, Eindhoven
APPARENTLY. Kunst op papier uit de collectie D’herde-Castelein, Abdijstraat 34, Koksijde
Raamblind, Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerp
4M Wals #11, Herzele
2020
Johan De Wilde invites, Hopstreet Gallery, Deurle
2019
Keep away from open windows, pop/off/art gallery, Moscow
Between zero and one. Alexander Pankin and the Avantgards, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow
ZOOM, Rasche Ripken, Berlin
The Gulf Between, Cultuurhuis de Warande, Turnhout
Looking at the world through rose coloured glasses, Gallery Sofie Van de Velde + BRAFA, Antwerp
2018
Full House – 10 Jahre, Rasche Ripken, Berlin
8. Biennale der Zeichnung, Kunstverein Eislingen
Work Flow, Tentoonstellingszaal Zwijgershoek, St. Niklaas
2017
picture this, Rasche Ripken, Berlin
wordswordswords, G262 Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerp
2016
De laatste show, Voorkamer, Lier
Die van Aalst, Villa De Olmen Wieze, CC Belgica Dendermonde, Galerie De Vos, Aalst, Galerie EL, Welle, Zebrastraat, Gent
Field notes and dirty drawings, Z33, Hasselt
Dopplereffekt, Voorkamer, Lier
2015
Neubau, Rasche Ripken, Berlin
Enlightened Fountains (reasons to be cheerful), Loods 12, Jan Colle Gallery, Gent
Horizonten en Meer, G262 Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerp (with Johan De Wilde)
Netwerk Museum, Centrum voor hedendaagse Kunst, Aalst
2014
Aanzichten en Meer, Rasche Ripken, Berlin (with Johan De Wilde)
BRRL, Galerie EL, Welle
Nieuw, Nouveau, Neu, Voorkamer, Lier
Ideaal: Rik De Boe & Johan De Wilde, Loods 12, Wetteren
Halte Dich fern von offenen Fenstern, Rasche Ripken, Berlin
2013
4 aus Belgien, Rasche Ripken, Berlin
Broadcast Gallery, Dublin
2012
Stijlfiguren, Secondroom, Antwerp
The thing that('s) left, Dean Project, New York
Cinema, Voorkamer, Lier
2011
In-and-outside-writing, Voorkamer, Lier
Alarums and Excursions, Frontroom Gallery, New York
Grafiek ontrafeld, VIZO Collection, Museum Sint-Niklaas
Les Brasseurs, L'Annexe, Liège
2010
The power of drawing, Geukens & De Vil Gallery, Brussel
One Thoresby Street, Nottingham
Zweierlei, Morrens & De Boe present Voorkamer, Kunstraum Klingenthal, Basel
Pattern recognition, White Space Gallery, Peking
2009
Verwantschappen, Z33, Hasselt
Goethe Institut Rotterdam, Filmfoyer Tilburg, Galerie De School, Groede Blikopenerfestival, Delft
Testbeeld, Croxhapox, Gent
- 10 + 2 ½, Voorkamer, Lier
2008
Found, Gevonden, Trouvé, Voorkamer, Lier
Multiples and Editions II, Frontroom Gallery, Williamsburg
Morrens & De Boe present: tekeningen en tekeningen, Galerie EL, Welle
2007
Testbeelden – tekeningen, Hermitage, Helmond
Sound Watch, Bandits-mages Festival, Bourges
Four Walls, Film Club, Brooklyn
2006
3. Heilige Geest (Einde), Voorkamer, Lier
Screenings sound watch, Art Cinema OFF, Gent
FIDmarseille, International Documentary Filmfestival, Marseille
KASK week, Royal Academy for Fine Arts, Gent
2005
Event 01, Netwerk, Centrum voor hedendaagse Kunst, Aalst
Argos Festival, Belgian Focus, sonorama, Brussel
[pfmz] fünfzehn mex, Künstlerhaus Dortmund
SKOP, Experimentelle Musik und Kunst im interdisziplinären Kontext, Frankfurt/Main
2004
Zie tekening, Museum Van Campen & Baron Caroly, Lier
Sight-mapping, Site-seeing, New Media Art Festival, Bangkok
Sound Watch, video-project, Gallery Surge, Tokyo
Gallery Surge Tokyo – Puddles 2004, part 1: Low Fish performance and installation; part 2: Video collaboration W Cube Members, Yoshimichi Takei, Yosuke Ito
2003
Soon, Frontroom Gallery, Williamsburg
Beeld in park, Felix Hap Park, Brussel
28 seconds: a film-project in the mid-Atlantic cable market, USA
Video-concert Low Fish, Galerie Rachel Haverkamp, Cologne
2002
Kinderkunstenfabriek, FLACC tuinwijk, Genk-Waterschei
Sight-mapping, Site-seeing, Videoart Center, Out-lounge gallery, Watanabe Building, Tokyo
Zeeberg, Centrum voor hedendaagse kunst, Aalst
Fricties, International project for intermedia, Gent
Video Art Center, Tokyo, Kunstencentrum Vooruit, Gent
2001
Room pr, Voorkamer, Lier
Casa Rural, Pianofabriek Brussel
IM – on very special brief occasions, Koolmijn Waterschei
Puddles, Sumiso, Osaka
2000
Hotel, Centrum Beeldende Kunst, Nijmegen
Geen tijd, Parkgarage, Lier