Cologne Fine Art 2014
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Jef Verheyen. Color, Light & Vision - works from the 50s and 60s.
"Seeing is feeling with the eyes". (Jef Verheyen) Nuanced and almost iridescent colour gradients are characteristic for the paintings of the Flemish artist Jef Verheyen (1932 - 1984). Close observation and an almost meditative inner calm are necessary for the viewer to encounter Verheyen's paintings in all their depth. The "peintre flamant", who completed a classical painter's training at the Royal Academy of Antwerp in the early 1950s, left behind only a comparatively narrow oeuvre; he himself called his paintings "panchromatic works" that encompass all colours. His painting style almost completely erases any materiality of colour and brush.
Seeing is feeling with the eyes
Jef Verheyen
The subtle works of art are all the more impressive because Jef Verheyen had only limited vision due to a congenital eye defect. The constant search for metaphysical insights is, as it were, the programme of the paintings by the exceptional artist, created in countless glazed layers of colour. They bear titles such as "Sun" or "Flemish Landscape". Light and colour as means of perception, a physical as well as mental visual experience are the central elements of his art. Constantly experimenting, Verheyen approached the very similar ideas of the "ZERO Group", active in the Rhineland with the artists Heinz Mack, Otto Piene and later Günther Uecker. In the late 1950s, Verheyen met Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni and Uecker. He established correspondence with Yves Klein and became an important link in the "ZERO group".
It was this remarkable post-war movement with which Verheyen identified artistically. This led to important joint international exhibitions and also to collaborative artworks (e.g. with Lucio Fontana, Hermann Goepfert or Englebert van Anderlecht). "We were more interested in painting that activated consciousness. The four of us - Fontana, Yves Klein, Manzoni and I - opposed it [Tachism & Informel] with a collective idea that had a lot to do with our friendship." (Verheyen, 1973) The lively exchange with his artist colleagues was always an important source of inspiration and stimulation for Verheyen's work: "He [Fontana] also took over painting methods from me. It was a mutual give and take. [...] It was certainly no coincidence that we immediately got along so well [Fontana, Manzoni, "Düsseldorf Scene"]. We pursued the same ideas and communicated a lot through letters. Each of us was surprised to learn that someone at the other end of Europe was pursuing similar ideas and that the artistic results also showed analogies." Lucio Fontana - although himself considerably older than his Flemish friend - spoke of Verheyen as "his father". In addition to his art, he particularly appreciated the intellectual and philosophical way in which the Belgian was able to put into words not only his own work. The special exhibition "Jef Verheyen. Color, Light & Vision" presents representative works from the 1950s and 1960s on canvas and paper. The presentation thus pays tribute to the oeuvre of this painter, which has received little attention to date and is hardly present on the art market. Galerie Dierking complements Jef Verheyen's works for sale with works from private collections and museums as well as with individual pieces of Asian art from the Victor and Marianne Langen Collection / Langen Foundation, Neuss.
Cologne Fine Art 2014
-
Seeing is feeling with the eyes
Jef Verheyen
Jef Verheyen. Color, Light & Vision - works from the 50s and 60s.
"Seeing is feeling with the eyes". (Jef Verheyen) Nuanced and almost iridescent colour gradients are characteristic for the paintings of the Flemish artist Jef Verheyen (1932 - 1984). Close observation and an almost meditative inner calm are necessary for the viewer to encounter Verheyen's paintings in all their depth. The "peintre flamant", who completed a classical painter's training at the Royal Academy of Antwerp in the early 1950s, left behind only a comparatively narrow oeuvre; he himself called his paintings "panchromatic works" that encompass all colours. His painting style almost completely erases any materiality of colour and brush.
The subtle works of art are all the more impressive because Jef Verheyen had only limited vision due to a congenital eye defect. The constant search for metaphysical insights is, as it were, the programme of the paintings by the exceptional artist, created in countless glazed layers of colour. They bear titles such as "Sun" or "Flemish Landscape". Light and colour as means of perception, a physical as well as mental visual experience are the central elements of his art. Constantly experimenting, Verheyen approached the very similar ideas of the "ZERO Group", active in the Rhineland with the artists Heinz Mack, Otto Piene and later Günther Uecker. In the late 1950s, Verheyen met Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni and Uecker. He established correspondence with Yves Klein and became an important link in the "ZERO group".
It was this remarkable post-war movement with which Verheyen identified artistically. This led to important joint international exhibitions and also to collaborative artworks (e.g. with Lucio Fontana, Hermann Goepfert or Englebert van Anderlecht). "We were more interested in painting that activated consciousness. The four of us - Fontana, Yves Klein, Manzoni and I - opposed it [Tachism & Informel] with a collective idea that had a lot to do with our friendship." (Verheyen, 1973) The lively exchange with his artist colleagues was always an important source of inspiration and stimulation for Verheyen's work: "He [Fontana] also took over painting methods from me. It was a mutual give and take. [...] It was certainly no coincidence that we immediately got along so well [Fontana, Manzoni, "Düsseldorf Scene"]. We pursued the same ideas and communicated a lot through letters. Each of us was surprised to learn that someone at the other end of Europe was pursuing similar ideas and that the artistic results also showed analogies." Lucio Fontana - although himself considerably older than his Flemish friend - spoke of Verheyen as "his father". In addition to his art, he particularly appreciated the intellectual and philosophical way in which the Belgian was able to put into words not only his own work. The special exhibition "Jef Verheyen. Color, Light & Vision" presents representative works from the 1950s and 1960s on canvas and paper. The presentation thus pays tribute to the oeuvre of this painter, which has received little attention to date and is hardly present on the art market. Galerie Dierking complements Jef Verheyen's works for sale with works from private collections and museums as well as with individual pieces of Asian art from the Victor and Marianne Langen Collection / Langen Foundation, Neuss.
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