(cat.)(draw.) - Sergio De Beukelaer

The Belgian artist Sergio De Beukelaer has been working on a self-confident and uncompromising oeuvre of paintings for over twenty years. Leaf through his archive of sketches, designs and preliminary drawings made between the years 1997-2023. (cat.)(draw.) follows our first book published with Sergio called (cat.) and presents the prequel to the final result. Discover how an artist plots his designs, and handles his archive of drawings. This book gives a greater insight in the heart of the matter behind Sergio De Beukelaer’s artworks. Sergio’s drawings expose him indiscriminately, hence why he has waited until 2023 to reveal them. “What mathematics is to an engineer, drawings are to an artist. It is the seedbed from which an idea springs. When I am in a gallery or a museum, I want to gain insight and be nurtured. To paraphrase Umberto Eco, a work of art “is a machine for generating interpretations”. Sergio De Beukelaer is represented by PLUS-ONE Gallery.

Text in English and Dutch.

Sergio De Beukelaer (°1971, BE) lives and works in Deurne, Belgium. De Beukelaer uses numerous codes of post-modernistic art from the 1960s and 1970s, such as abstraction, geometry, monochrome, and the “hard edge” technique but he does so with an irony and playfulness that cannot be reconciled with the attitude of minimalists and fundamental painters. Apparent contrasts, such as figuration and abstraction, flat and spatial, word and image, painting and sculpture, both contaminate and fertilise one another. In the concept of the “fat.canvas”, a three-dimensional painting, the artist leaves the field of classical painting and conquers the painting the space. The shapes, colors and dimensions of De Beukelaer’s works are tempting, but behind the power of these compact images, a surprising impact lurks on closer inspection.

Sergio De Beukelaer is an alumini of The Royal Academy of Fine Arts Anwerp. Solo shows include: 2019 NO POP- NO UP, Gent (BE) - 2017; On.Titled, PLUS-ONE Gallery, Antwerp, (BE) - 2016; Sub.Titled, PLUS-ONE Gallery, Antwerp, (BE) - 2015; THE.SEQUEL, Galerie Annie Gentils, Antwerp, (BE) - 2013; The.Target.Series, Galerie Ronny Van de Velde, Knokke, (BE) - 2008; Format, Galeria Ramis Barquet, New York, (US) - 2007; Watch More Canvas, ABA Art, Palma, (ES) - 2004; Roomservice, Galeria Ramis Barquet, New York, (US) ARCO, Madrid, (ES) - 2003; Processing, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, (BE) - 2001; At Random, Provinciaal Centrum voor Beeldende Kunsten, Hasselt, (BE) - Space Location, Van Laere Contemporary Art, Antwerp, (BE) - 2000; Oil On Fat.canvas - Objects & Drawings, Van Laere Contemporary Art, Antwerp.