Brussels-based Belgian painter Lisa Vlaemminck works in a uniquely colourful and patterned style that verges on abstraction while evoking plastic and living forms in surreal and bizarre still lifes. Graduating from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Ghent (KASK) in 2015, the artist, while developing her artistic career, remains a relative recluse from the public eye, preferring her art to be seen in its own right. Her paintings and collages have appeared in prominent galleries across Belgium including the Centre for Fine Arts (BOZAR), Brussels; and Tatjana Pieters, Ghent; as well as at the Bruges Triennial.
Read MoreVlaemminck occupies a studio overlooking the Botanical Gardens in Brussels, drawing inspiration from the nearby botanical life as well as accumulated textiles, natural and plastic objects, and decorative materials scattered across the studio floor. From her earliest works such as Magnolia (2014) and Dots V.V.G (2015) the artist demonstrates a fascination with biological forms (plants and creatures) and an unconventional use of contrasting vivid synthetic colours and black outlines. The artist once explained 'I kind of liked this idea of cultivating being different.' Uncommon synthetic colour combinations give forms in her artworks an unusual plasticity, hovering between something virtual and organic. Her compositions are dreamlike amalgamations, almost cubist in their total departure from perspective and visual order. Forms appear within forms, fluorescent plants seemingly making copies of themselves while imagery of living plants and creatures blends with abstract elements of visual design.
For the group exhibition Paper Works (Tatjana Pieters, 2018), Vlaemminck worked with collage, using paper, glitter, pastels, and paint. The artist's first solo show, Spaceship Love Affair (Tatjana Pieters, 2018), marked an extravagant culmination of her exotic, verging-on-psychedelic still-life paintings and collages. Comparing this to Cryogenic sleep in full colour (Rodolphe Janssen, 2019) reveals a growing dreamlike haziness to the artist's work. Edges of certain key forms, delineated by thick black outlines, give off a radiant glow, enhancing the mystery and colourful intrigue that characterises her artwork.
Michael Irwin | Ocula | 2019
