In late 2018 the Board of Directors of the Friends of S.M.A.K. is inviting three young Belgian painters to show their work in the new exhibition space, called ‘De Vereniging’, in the museum’s former library.
They are Bendt Eyckermans, Alfred D’Ursel and Wim De Pauw. The occasion for this is the Raoul De Keyser retrospective. Bendt Eyckermans is the first to show his work. The exhibition consists of a small selection of works from the last two years of his still early oeuvre.
In his figurative oil paintings, Bendt Eyckermans (1994, Antwerp) summons up a mysterious atmosphere: solitary characters are set on the stage with dark urban landscapes as a backdrop. In this way the artist evokes events and characters from his own world. On the other hand, the works that depict architectural details ensue from his fascination with their sculptural quality.
As if in a still from a film, the artist shows us a snapshot, a motionless action from a broader story. He takes his inspiration from the narrative and compositional elements of ancient and Celtic bas reliefs. In this way he brings an archaic and a contemporary visual language face to face, thereby presenting a surreal atmosphere relative to the realistic rendering.