Jan De Vliegher
What you see is what you see
26.10.2001 - 06.01.2002
Zeedijk 635 - Knokke
Ordinary things and events in their own environment, impressions gained during trips to the far and near abroad are captured on film and then converted into a painted image. Lighting effects, suggestiveness and atmosphere are the most essential elements. A painter nor a photographer is able to realize an exact copy of reality.
The works of Jan De Vliegher have a realistic character and are located in the figurative field. The Vliegher does not adhere to the narrative or the anecdote, but is searching for universal situations. He is no history painter, he tells no stories, he does not engage in politics, has no message, unless one which is purely painterly. He should be regarded as an abstract painter, although he paints the reality on the basis of photographs.
From the countless photographic recordings he chooses a limited number of images that are carefully crafted with the computer. Composition, form, color and perspective are manipulated and modified in preparation of the painting. In his paintings, De Vliegher is looking for the magic moment where figuration ends and abstraction begins, that instant when the realistic illusion ends and the subject changes into paint.
Jan De Vliegher paints light. The light which reflects until it separates from the object and almost forms abstract compositions. What stands out again and again in his work is the joy of painting.
Jan De Vliegher (°1964) lives and works in Bruges. He studied painting at the Higher Institute for Fine Arts (Ghent). In 1998 he debuted solo in the exhibition space of the Association for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Ghent. In 2000 he won the Prize for Visual Arts of the Province of West Flanders.
De Vliegher participated in important exhibitions such as ‘Trapped Reality’ (Santa Monica – Barcelona, 1997), ‘The Gardens of Granada’ (PMKK Ostend, 2002), ‘Marines in Confrontation’ (Beaufort, PMMK, Ostend, 2003), ‘Fading’ (Museum of Ixelles, 2009) and ‘Schatzkammer’ (Gaasbeek Castle, 2011). Works by Jan De Vliegher were included in the collections of Dexia Brussels, Mercator Insurance Antwerp, the Flemish Parliament in Brussels and the Museum for Modern Art in Ostend.
The works of Jan De Vliegher have a realistic character and are located in the figurative field. The Vliegher does not adhere to the narrative or the anecdote, but is searching for universal situations. He is no history painter, he tells no stories, he does not engage in politics, has no message, unless one which is purely painterly. He should be regarded as an abstract painter, although he paints the reality on the basis of photographs.
From the countless photographic recordings he chooses a limited number of images that are carefully crafted with the computer. Composition, form, color and perspective are manipulated and modified in preparation of the painting. In his paintings, De Vliegher is looking for the magic moment where figuration ends and abstraction begins, that instant when the realistic illusion ends and the subject changes into paint.
Jan De Vliegher paints light. The light which reflects until it separates from the object and almost forms abstract compositions. What stands out again and again in his work is the joy of painting.
Jan De Vliegher (°1964) lives and works in Bruges. He studied painting at the Higher Institute for Fine Arts (Ghent). In 1998 he debuted solo in the exhibition space of the Association for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Ghent. In 2000 he won the Prize for Visual Arts of the Province of West Flanders.
De Vliegher participated in important exhibitions such as ‘Trapped Reality’ (Santa Monica – Barcelona, 1997), ‘The Gardens of Granada’ (PMKK Ostend, 2002), ‘Marines in Confrontation’ (Beaufort, PMMK, Ostend, 2003), ‘Fading’ (Museum of Ixelles, 2009) and ‘Schatzkammer’ (Gaasbeek Castle, 2011). Works by Jan De Vliegher were included in the collections of Dexia Brussels, Mercator Insurance Antwerp, the Flemish Parliament in Brussels and the Museum for Modern Art in Ostend.
