RINUS VAN DE VELDE
Bridging the potential and the impossible, Rinus Van de Velde (b. 1983) tells a tale of imagined histories, of fictional autobiographies and fantastic encounters. Spanning various media from drawing and painting to installation and film, Van de Velde is known for his witty commentary and meticulous use of charcoal on large-scale canvas.
Rinus Van de Velde’s narrative style balances between truth and imagination, which is reflected in the intricate interplay of light and shadow in his work. Convinced that art is not born of one sole truth, through his works, Van de Velde aims to open a multiplicity of realities to his audience. Inhabiting these worlds, the artist often depicts himself as the protagonist, whether sat in an armchair smoking or dressed as a star tennis player.
Since the late 2010s, Van de Velde complements his signature monochrome palette with faded and subdued shades, becoming increasingly more saturated over time. In recent years, the artist has focused on a new body of work in colour, beginning with small-scale pencil drawings, which have evolved into larger compositions in vibrant oil stick. Fascinated by the spontaneity of drawing, Van de Velde embraces the medium’s mischievous, chaotic qualities, transcribing this spirit onto a large scale that, in its grandeur, is reminiscent of traditional oil painting. Unlike painting, forever condemned to the burden of making definite statements, Van de Velde sees in drawing the possibility of ‘designing your world’.
‘My work is always based on fiction, placed alongside reality. It is about the truth and a lie. Where is the real in all of it? And this is interesting I think, for me to mix it all up. I don’t think it is as interesting to say (what is and isn’t real) this is the truth. I don’t wish this, because I am not an authority on the truth. I don’t want to be in that position, and the same of what I said about making statements in painting, I am not that kind of artist who is going to make an assertion and say that this is how the world is now. I like that everything is much more ambivalent and that there is hesitation, it is false or fact? The lie is much more interesting I think than telling the truth.’
R. Van de Velde in conversation with R. Punj ‘Living a Lie. An interview with Rinus Van de Velde’, in Art&Deal, 2020
Image: I wish we will be a reason..., 2022, oil pastel on paper, 110 x 73 cm.; 43 1/4 x 28 3/4 in., 126.5 x 89.5 x 4 cm.; 49 3/4 x 35 1/4 x 1 5/8 in. (framed). Photo: courtesy of Tim van Laere Gallery
Artist Talk
Selected Works
Solo Exhibitions
Group Exhibitions
Selected Institutional Exhibitions
Biography
VITA
1983
Born in Leuven, Belgium
Lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
A.Z. Artgestion Collection, Bilbao
Belfius Art Collection, Brussels
CAC Malaga
Colección SOLO, Madrid
Erasmus University Rotterdam
Fondazione Ghisla Art Collection, Locaro
FRAC des Pays de la Loire, Nantes
Karel De Grote Hogeschool, Antwerp
Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague
KPN Art Collection
Kunstmuseum Luzern
KWM Art Center, Beijing
M HKA, Antwerp
Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar
S.M.A.K., Ghent
Stad Antwerpen
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris
I am done singing about the past
Tim van Laere Gallery, Rome
I Want to Eat Mangos in the Bathtub
Art Sonje Center, Seoul, travelled to:
Jeonnam Museum of Art, Gwangyang
2023
A Life in a Day
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
Galerie Max Hetzler, London
The Armchair Voyager
Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar
2022
Inner Travels
Europalia Trains & Tracks, BOZAR, Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels
Baton Gallery, Seoul
2021
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
I’d rather stay at home
Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne
La Ruta Natural
FRAC des Pays de la Loire
2020
On Another Plane of Existence
Gallery Baton, Seoul
Let the Engine Run
König Tokio, Tokyo
2019
The Villagers
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
The Colony
KWM artcentre, Beijing
Bærum Kulturhaus, Sandvika
I’ve Lived For So Many Days Now
König Galerie, Berlin
2018
Now I am the night of nights
Kunstpalais Erlangen
2017
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
König Galerie, Berlin
About Robert Rino
Nest, The Hague
2016
Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague
A Sunday as a Sunday
Tegenboschvanvreden, Amsterdam
Donogoo Tonka
SMAK, Ghent
2015
Dear Friends,…
Kunsthalle São Paulo
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
2014
Galerie Zink, Berlin
2013
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
Centro de Arte Contemporáneo (CAC), Malaga
2012
The Lost Bishop
Stedelijk Museum Schiedam
Tegenboschvanvreden, Amsterdam
Patrick Painter Inc., Los Angeles
2011
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
Dear David Johnson,…
Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago
The Wanderer
Susan Numerhoff Gallery, New York
With Nothing but myself
Galerie Zink, Berlin
2010
How many steps until the next block
Institut für zeitgenössische Kunst, Nuremberg
There is not a single grey hair in my soul
Pocket Room, Antwerp
Unsere Wand ist Total Super
Galerie Zink, Berlin
2009
Gaining here is losing there
Be Part, Waregem
RVDV: HI
Interisland Terminal, Honolulu
Pocket Room, Antwerp
A rotating sculpture and the residues
Galerie Zink, Munich
2008
William Crowder, 40 years of sculpture
Museum of Contemporary Art (S.M.A.K.), Ghent
Waiting for a Retrospective
Lokaal01, Antwerp
Recent drawings
1st Floor Gallery, Antwerp
2007
Untitled Gallery, Antwerp
Gallery Boechout
2006
S&S Gallery, Antwerp
Bastart Gallery, Houthalen
2005
Existenzmaximum, Leuven
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
On Paper
Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris
2023
Conversations: Contemporary and historical masters in dialogue
Museum Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp
das gelbe Licht 6 Uhr nachmittags
Remembering, envisioning, sensing landscape, curated by Christian Malycha
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
2022
A Line Around An Idea: ways of knowing through contemporary drawing practices
The Glucksman, Cork
Let's Go
Tim van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
Abrasive Paradise
Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort
MAKING FUN
De Warande, Turnhout
2020
Enjoy and Take Care!
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
PRELUDE: Melancholy of the Future
Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle
Unplugged
Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague
Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing
2019
Gallery Baton, Seoul
JRSLM Paradise Lost Again
VUB, Brussels
Mier Gallery, Los Angeles
Art Basel - Parcours, Basel
AMBERES – Roberto Bolaño’s Antwerp
M HKA, Antwerp
KUNST KUNST KUNST
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
CONDO
The Breeder, Athens
I will be dead
König London
Hand Drawn Action Packed
Hunterian Museum & Art Gallery
The Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea
The Last Waltz (For Lean)
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
2018
Auf ab die Insel!
Kunstmuseum Luzerne, Lucerne
Hand Drawn Action Packed
New Museum and Art Gallery, St Albans
The Line Up: The Power of Drawing
Central Museum, Utrecht
2016
Take care, amigo
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
Tomorrow is a long time
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
2015
The Revenge of the Common Place
Palazzo Nani Mocenigo, Venice
We will begin by drawing, we shall continue to draw, and then we shall draw some more
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
The future = Beurssc50uwburg
Beursschouwburg, Brussels
Run for the Roses
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
2014
Master Mould and Copy Room
CAFA Art Museum, Beijing
A Story of Absence
National Bank, Brussels
Passions Secrètes
Lille 3000
Portray
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
2013
APPARATUS CRITICUS & LOCUS
Künstlerhaus Stuttgart
For The Time Being. Wall Paintings, Painted Walls
Kunsthalle Bielefeld
Beyond Tradition
Garage, Rotterdam
2012
Being Here
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
Bucharest International Biennial for Contemporary Art
The Reality of the Unbuilt
Raketenstation Hombroich, Neuss
Kamarama, Bruges
ManifestAanwezig
Kasteel d’Aspremont-Lynden, Oud Rekem
2011
We Are The Only Artists In The Village
Tarmac, Meerhout
Past Present Future#2 – People and the City
Contemporary Art Centre Winzawod, Glasgow
UNTITLED (EVIDENCE)
David Roberts Foundation, London
In- and outside - writing
Voorkamer, Lier
Der Reiz der belanglosen Geschichte
Galerie Zink, Berlin
Propos d’Europe 10.0 - Des artistes belges
Foundation Hippocrène, Paris
Crossroads
KIT, Düsseldorf
Voorkamer
Les Brasseurs, Liège
Nanzuka underground, Tokyo
2010
Verzamelde verhalen, Watou
Thank you For Tomorrow, Ghent
Drawing Documents
Extra city, Antwerp
Schwarz und Weiss
Galerie Zink, Munich
Smooth Structures
Smart Project Space, Amsterdam
One Little Indian
HISK group show, La Generale, Paris
A Thin Line
Tegenboschvanvreden, Amsterdam
Imagined, Observed, Remembered
Extra City, Antwerp
Ah Oh
Curated by g, Galerinon, Istanbul
Changez
een Belgenshow, Enschede
2009
one
Tegenboschvanvreden gallery, Amsterdam
World Wide Wonders
Ghent University
A4 editions
Muhka, Antwerp
Time Challenger
HISK, Ghent
Jeugdzonde over opus één en opus min één
LLS 387, Antwerp
edities
Voorkamer, Lier
storm op komst
Warande, Turnhout
The Ever Mass Land
Nadine, Brussels
10 + 2 1/2
Voorkamer, Lier
I Love the BeNeLux
Virgil de Voldère Gallery, New York
Videos
Selected Press
Ocula September 2024
Numero Netherlands February 2023
Art&Deal March 2020
Frieze November 2019
Kinfolk Magazine June 2018
this surrounding us all. April 2016
Artforum April 2011
