Belgian artist Kristof Santy creates large-scale, expressive paintings that explore the everyday.
Read MoreSanty was born in Belgium. Prior to pursuing painting, Santy previously worked as a factory worker. His initial explorations into the medium were inspired by his working experience, as he has created several studies of people working in technical environments.
The subject of Kristof Santy's work often revolves around the everyday. His expressive and striking paintings of food such as sausages, sardines, and condiments are rendered with a vibrant colour palette and geometric edges that evoke an almost cubist quality. Santy's compositions have involved renditions of table arrangements as well as portraiture and scenes of people at work or immersed in their daily routines.
Santy has been greatly influenced by folk tales and customs. His figurative paintings are stylised and mythologised depictions of Santy's surroundings. In his renderings, Santy plays with perspective and composition, drawing inspiration from fellow painters such as Philip Guston and Jean Brusselmans, along with anonymous 19th-century artists and popular images.
Some examples of his work include Fruits de mer (2021), a still life of a seafood platter on a green gingham tablecloth; Ark van Noah (2021), a depiction of the biblical story of Noah's ark consisting of several animals including a bear, camel, and turtle sailing into the sun; and Vissersboot (2022), a scene of a fisherman navigating through stormy weather holding a swordfish in hand as a parrot perches on his arm.
Frequently working with large-scale canvases, Santy highlights aspects of life that are often neglected and overlooked, using his work to foreground the mundane.
Kristof Santy has held solo exhibitions at Unit London; Christine König, Vienna; and Thomas Serruys, Bruges. His work has been included in group exhibitions at Yusto/Giner, Marbella and Everyday Gallery, Antwerp.
Santy's website can be found here, while his Instagram can be found here.
Arianna Mercado | Ocula | 2022
