De Buck Gallery is pleased to present Spotlight: Koen van den Broek, an online presentation of works on paper by Belgian artist Koen van den Broek. Created during the artist’s recent travels to the United Arab Emirates, this focused series draws on the artist’s fascination with pavement, curb stones and the small often-overlooked details of urban landscapes. The online exhibition runs from March 17 through April 14, 2022.
Van den Broek’s new series of works on paper are the fruits of his travels to the United Arab Emirates, the artist’s first stint of international travel since the pandemic began. As a result, these works evoke a sense of delight in the artist’s reclaimed freedom.
As with his large-scale paintings, for this series Van den Broek photographed architectural elements on his journeys through the neighborhoods of Al Hamriya and Al Ras in Dubai, before bringing them to life on paper. Whether a colorful shuttered window in Al Hamriya, a view of boats in the water near Dubai Festival City, or a blue ramp on the street at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, Van den Broek reduces these architectural forms to their fundamental geometry bringing forth hidden symmetries, light, and color.
“In the Desert, like all hot places on earth,” says Van den Broek, “the cracks are falling apart and there’s no way of fixing it.” In this way, he uses natural elements “to get at something artificial,” and to make something new, a human intervention into the world. “I’m controlling the frame, but I do not control the cracks on the road.”
Koen van den Broek (b. 1973) is a Belgian artist known for his depictions of urban landscape. He studied at the Royal Academy of Antwerp and the Academy of Visual Arts of Breda in the late 1990s. Van den Broek lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium.
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