Robert Zandvliet
A mural and paintings
On one of those days when the sun showed its face, I visited Robert Zandvliet’s studio. The party had already started there. All around me I saw the fresh yellow-green of new leaves, budding branches, sleet grass still glistening in the sun. The famous Flemish artist Roger Raveel (1921-2013) is said to have called it ‘March Magic.’ He thus indicated the change in nature between winter and spring.
Zandvliet has been practicing his hand at structures and textures for the past two years. When I see the fresh green burst in his studio, I would almost think that he found the inspiration for this during walks along thickets with boning branches or soggy green meadows. But nothing is less true. As always, the painter looked to his predecessors.
The yellow seed pods in Le Jardin XVII resonate with the energy of the summer sun. In Le Jardin XII and Le Jardin XXI, icy blue or arid yellow branches glow in a somewhat watery light, while in Reed a wintry evening sun turns a few reeds into greenish yellow flames. As everything is connected, Zandvliet connects these new canvases with a painting in bright spring colors directly on the wall. The whole thing offers us a hint of the long-awaited spring and reminds us that we are only a vulnerable link in a much larger force field.
Installation images by Peter Cox.
