Eric Vandamme

Eric Vandamme’s depictions are untitled and do not easily allow for a definition.
They breathe an ethereal atmosphere of silence and disorientate the spectator.
Alienation is therefore the essence of Vandamme’s artistic message.

Sometimes he creates metaphysical, inner pictures. They can be perceived as blueprints for a possible reality, however, as its remainders as well. The objects we look at seem reassuring: they originate from the collective memory and can be defined in an instance. Nothing is further from the truth: lacking frames of reference such as scale and material characteristics, these strongly reduced archetypical forms and structures are only melancholic, intangible phantom images on the retina.

Other images are based on assembled photographic material, originating from scientific domains such as genetics, cell biology and nanotechnology. Here, Vandamme patiently and selectively zooms in, like a scientist who wants to penetrate to the essence. This zooming in can be taken literally with a number of images as well: the structures are cut by the confines of the canvas, as a result of which infinitude is suggested. By focusing on the microscopic detail, the immense space around it also becomes emphasised.

Vandamme’s colour palette is very much tempered; the dramatic light is enhanced by the use of sober black and white colours. Vandamme considers his choice for traditional painting and drawing as a statement: in this zapping era, in which images are tumbling one over another at warp speed, he creates time and space for silence and contemplation.


Eric Vandamme – °1961, Mechelen, Belgium
Lives and works in Mechelen, Belgium


Solo exhibitions (selection)

2008   "Made in Mechelen" – Cultural Center Mechelen
2007   Tivoli Castle, Mechelen
2006   galerie Cellaar, Kortrijk
2005   “Zonder Titel” – galerie Pack-Huys, Mechelen
2004   “Materie” – Centrum voor Jonge Kunst, Gent
2003   “Eric Vandamme” – galerie Pack-Huys, Mechelen


Group exhibitions (selection)

2008   Kunstvestdagen, Mechelen
2008   “B-sides”, bibliotheek Tweebronnen, Leuven
2007   “MAX:40×30" – galerie Cellaar, Kortrijk
2007   “Kunst op het Groot Begijnhof”, Mechelen
2006   winter exhibition – galerie Pack-Huys, Mechelen
2006   “wit/zwart – WIT/ZWART” – galerie Pack-Huys, Mechelen
          i.s.m. Cultural Center Mechelen
2006   “OVERzicht” – Centrum voor Jonge Kunst, Gent
2006   “Kunst op het Groot Begijnhof”, Mechelen
2005   summer exhibition – galerie Pack-Huys, Mechelen
2004   summer exhibition – galerie Pack-Huys, Mechelen
2004   “OVERzicht” – Centrum voor Jonge Kunst, Gent
2003   winter exhibition – galerie Pack-Huys, Mechelen
2002   winter exhibition – galerie Pack-Huys, Mechelen


Publications

"Contemporary Art in Belgium 2005” (Bart De Baere & Henry Bounameaux)
(ISBN : 2-930150-82-3)

De Standaard 01.02.2006

"Mechelen, Kunst van de middeleeuwen tot heden” (Rudi De Mets)
(ISBN : 978 90 5720 276 6)
p. 85, 95, 105, 118 – ill. p. 118