Twenty years ago, I enjoyed international recognition. The participation in the Venice Biennale (1991), exhibitions in Spain, Portugal, Holland, Austria, Germany and Belgium (1987-2004) brought me into renowned museums and art institutions. One-man shows at the VMHK-Gent, the Muhka and Groeninghemuseum, and the Rijksmuseum Twenthe illustrate this recognition.

At that time my work was also represented commercially by the German gallery Kewenig, the Dutch art dealer Lambert Tegenbosch and later by the Galerie Rob De Vries. For some time, I also had a good collaboration with the Belgian gallery F17.

That is how works got into famous collections like the ones of Rudolf Springer in Berlin, Joshua Gessel en Yoel Kremin in Zürich, the Sammlung Goets in Münich or the Schipper-collection in Utrecht and that of Armando (now in the Chabot museum in Rotterdam. The Teylersmuseum in Haarlem has a few works in its collection.

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In the following period, in which the artwork developed drastically, a fire destroyed a big amount of works from this early period, including the complete archive. I experienced a deep feeling of emptiness, due to this event. Suddenly there was a shortage of available works. The collaboration with public institutions and the commercial circuit got under pressure. It brought me as far as to offer the remaining big scale works to a public institution and to withdraw from commerce. That’s how a series of works got into the Rijksmuseum Twenthe.

 

Away from any commercial pressure, different sculptures arose in the following period, on which I devoted several years of labor. They refer to some big themes and motives from the Western art history. I assume a concept of continuity in the artistic development. To illustrate this point of view, my works rend homage to tradition by means of a technical virtuosity that I consider evident. I consider the sculptures from these years as my ‘classical’ period.

A series of these works was shown in 2010 at the Raum für Kunst in Aachen (D). Part of them ended up in the collection of the Rijksmuseum Twenthe, this time under the leadership of another artistic director.

Between 2015 and 2017, I worked on a commission by the ‘Universiteit Antwerpen’, that is open to public visit.

 

Since 2020, I work exclusively in the still-life genre. These sculptures and drawings form my mature artistic legacy. It is an oeuvre that is ‘visual art’ in the first place, as well as ‘genre’, but also considering motives and techniques. It is an art of representation. The works of art realize a connection between viewer and reality. They create a moment in which it becomes possible to get in closer contact to the things around us.