A. van Campenhout expertly layers one upon the other, leaving behind traces – images upon images, with charcoal seeping into the paper, or sometimes resting on its surface, casting different reflections when illuminated. The overall abstract image delicately balances between ‘what is’, ‘what can be’, and ‘what could be’. In this twilight zone, much remains uncertain, despite the structure. When does white become emptiness, and when does it transform into a tangible presence? In what depth does the grid lie? The drawing has the ability to rotate, change scale, or even reveal a hidden backside. A. van Campenhout strives for tension in the rhythm between pure white and pitch black, with nuanced shades in between: “You see something, but it exists nowhere; a drama with a soul; a form within pure black and white.” Associations reinforce the mood. The grid becomes a stone wall, the lines become prison bars. “They exude abstraction, yet hold within their dusky shadows numerous allusions, memories, and melancholy. They are the cracks of, as he puts it, ‘the human condition’, that he wishes to depict in grey or black with charcoal or chalk.” The entire field of view is filled by the drawing. In that space, the viewer is like a football player on the field. They try to grasp onto something, think they recognize it, but ultimately miss. A. van Campenhout describes it as follows: “The world begins to vibrate. The overlapping drawings, experiences, and memories become landscapes that one carries within. I view the drawing as the residue of attempts, because it is impossible to grasp or hold onto that, or anything else. The charcoal that falls to the ground is a remnant of what has been useful in the passage of time.”
www.ftn-books.com has now the A VAN CAMPENHOUT publication for the DE PONT exhibition available.
