Felix De Clercq

Biography

°1997, Antwerp, BE
Lives and works in Brussel, Belgium.
Graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp in 2020.
De Clercq participated in the WIELS Residency program of 2022-2023.

The work revolves around two thoughts. On the one hand, he fishes in the pool of (art)history: De Clercq is inspired by folklore art, sees the Georgian painter Niko Pirosmani as one of his masters and recognizes himself in the stories of Gerard Reve. On the other hand, he responds to our everyday reality, he paints the landscape of his life. He interweaves autobiographical elements with images from the popular visual culture of Netflix. He pays a different kind of attention to everyday images and stages things as he sees them, in books or on TV.

Felix De Clercq is represented by Gallery Sofie Van de Velde and Greengrassi (London).

°1997, Antwerp, BE
Lives and works in Brussel, Belgium.
Graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp in 2020.
De Clercq participated in the WIELS Residency program of 2022-2023.

The work revolves around two thoughts. On the one hand, he fishes in the pool of (art)history: De Clercq is inspired by folklore art, sees the Georgian painter Niko Pirosmani as one of his masters and recognizes himself in the stories of Gerard Reve. On the other hand, he responds to our everyday reality, he paints the landscape of his life. He interweaves autobiographical elements with images from the popular visual culture of Netflix. He pays a different kind of attention to everyday images and stages things as he sees them, in books or on TV.

Felix De Clercq is represented by Gallery Sofie Van de Velde and Greengrassi (London).

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2023

‘Apple’, Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerp, BE

2022

'The Inn's Attic or The apprentice', Greengrassi Gallery, London, UK

2021

'Blackbird on a shoulder', Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerp, BE
'Jusqu'au Rhin', Greengrassi Gallery, London, UK

2020

'Jongensgeheimen', Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerp, BE
The Wunderwall, Gallery Sofie Van De Velde, PLUS-ONE Gallery, Antwerp, BE

Selected Group Exhibitions

2023

Miart, Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Milan, IT
Art Brussels, Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Brussels, BE
'the last thing you see is the first', greengrassi, London, UK

2022

'Perspectives minimales en Belgique', Namur, BE

2021

'Equal Affections', GRIMM Gallery, Amsterdam, NL

2020

'L'heure bleue', Gallery Sofie Van De Velde & PLUS-ONE Gallery, Antwerp, BE
Art Rotterdam, Gallery Sofie Van De Velde, PLUS-ONE Gallery, Antwerp, BE

2019

'To Be Antwerp', Geukens & de Vil, Antwerp, BE
Kop vzw, Antwerpen, BE
'No Sweat', Showhouse Jay Jay, Antwerp, BE
'Thank you, come again', KASKA, Antwerp, BE
'DRDRSTTRPTKN IEIEEIIEE !', Café Den Triptiek, Antwerp, BE
'DRDRSTTRPTKN IEIEEIIEE !', Haecken en Ooghen, Antwerp, BE
'DRDRSTTRPTKN IEIEEIIEE !', Salon Si & La, Antwerp, BE

2018

'Not In My Good Christian Suburbs', KASK, Ghent, BE

Bibliography

2020

Felix De Clercq
Published by Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, 2020

Artworks

Felix De Clercq
Still life with Megalodon Tooth, 2023
Oil on canvas
50 x 60 cm

Felix De Clercq
Skier, 2023
Oil on canvas
70 x 60 cm

Felix De Clercq
Still Life with Tongue Fern, 2023
Oil on canvas
60 x 74 cm

Felix De Clercq
Spore, 2023
Oil on canvas
75 x 60 cm

Felix De Clercq
Pan Flute, 2022
Oil on canvas
40 x 50 cm

Felix De Clercq
Fellowship, 2022
Oil on canvas
50 x 60 cm

Felix De Clercq
Communion wine, 2022
Oil on canvas
75 x 65 cm

Felix De Clercq
First, 2021
Oil on canvas
40 x 50 cm

Felix De Clercq
19th century Belgian mineworkers helmet, 2021
leather

Felix De Clercq
Charcoal made from a tree outside the natural history museum in Brussels, 2021
charcoal
Dimensions variable

Felix De Clercq
Glacière de Gemenos, 2021
watercolor on paper
14,5 x 12 (drawing)
29,7 x 21 cm (paper)
Framed

Felix De Clercq
John Rann, 2021
watercolor on paper
16,2 x 15 (drawing)
29,7 x 21 cm (paper)
Framed

Felix De Clercq
Loreley of the Rhine river, 2021
watercolor on paper
19 x 16 (drawing)
29,7 x 21 cm (paper)
Framed

Felix De Clercq
Northern Roman gate of the roman town Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinasium, 2021
Oil on canvas
30 x 40 cm

Felix De Clercq
A new hometown, 2020
Oil paint on canvas
40 x 50 cm

News

Publications

Press

2020

In ons huidige internettijdperk lijkt het geen vanzelfsprekende keuze om vandaag de dag voor schilderkunst te kiezen. Maar als jonge kunstenaar neemt Felix De Clercq de vrijheid om elk thema te benaderen, hij schildert en tekent zijn omgeving bij elkaar.

Het werk hinkt op twee gedachten. Enerzijds vist hij in de poel van de (kunst)geschiedenis: hij laat hij zich inspireren door de West-Europese Romantische schilderkunst. Anderzijds haakt hij in op de realiteit, hij schildert het landschap van zijn leven: autobiografische elementen verweeft hij met scènes uit de populaire beeldcultuur van Netflix. Die beelden zijn niet eenduidig, ze bestaan in een context. Hij isoleert en verstilt ze, om ze zo schilderkundig te onderzoeken. Hij schenkt een andere soort aandacht aan alledaagse beelden en ensceneert de dingen zoals hij ze waarneemt, in boeken of op tv.

De schilderijen uit ‘Jongensgeheimen’ vinden hun oorsprong in Felix’s oude dagboeken. Ze tonen een inkijk in zijn gedachten en mijmeringen zonder sentimenteel te zijn. Woordenloos vertellen ze verhalen, als een ode aan zijn verbeelding. Het zit in lichtcontrasten, lichaamshoudingen en moeiteloze concentraties. Felix schildert in een taal van weinig woorden, in een taal van stille fantasieën,

Felix’s genre’s zijn klassiek, van stillevens tot portretten en interieur. Zijn kleurenpallet is donker en obscuur. Elk schilderij toont het begin van een verhaal, maar de interpretatie is per werk verschillend. Als toeschouwer ondervraag je ze op hun werkelijkheid; welke zjin herinneringen en welke zijn fantasieën? Hij toont de spanning tussen echtheid en kunstmatigheid en ensceneert ambivalente scenes, ze zijn dreigend en troostend, kalm en grimmg. De tentoonstelling ‘Jongensgeheimen’ verbindt al deze verhalen over de grens van het individuele schilderij heen.

Felix’s figuratieve schilderkunst zou afgeschreven kunnen worden als nostalgisch of naiëf. Ze vertrekt misschien vanuit een traditie van Romantiek en Oude Meesters maar hoort duidelijk thuis is een tijd van snelle beelden en massamedia. De volkse en naïeve kunst geldt als inspiratiebron, maar het schilderij an sich is allesbehalve naïef. Pretentieloos en ongekunsteld misschien? De verbeelding is belangrijk, realiteit maar een perceptie.

  • Gallery Sofie Van de Velde
2020

In order to understand the aesthetic analysis of Felix De Clercq’s work, one must start from its robustness. His paintings are characterized by density.

The works are strongly defined by Felix’s own environment, the topics/themes are elusive, but also intense and analytical. Subjects come to life through the visual formation. His clear visual language, compositional approach and lively gestures soften this density.

It is in this way, that the work of Felix De Clercq takes shape and that we can link it to the phenomenological Verism. Such a definition, which also puts a label on the work, demands an explanation or at least an introductory discourse.

Look at ‘Boy with a Watch’ (2019).
A boy sits in a couch in a domestic setting. He sits quite comfortably, perhaps somewhat posed. He looks at the distance. His eyes, limbs, clothes, watch, hair and his presence are portrayed in a painterly mist of humility and habit. In this somber silence, the watch catches the eye, it becomes unique.

A necklace, displayed with the earrings and the ring of his mother.
“My Mother’s Jewelry’(2019) gives us an insight in a private world, or better yet, an intimate world. You could, so to speak, smell her skin, in the typical metallic golden colors. Every detail, every quality of these jewels, even their background, gives you a sense of loneliness.

‘University Students’ (2020).
Three students, standing relaxed in what seems to be a courtyard.
They are not communicating with each other. One is reading, the other two are looking at the viewer/spectator. They too appear to be relaxed. The window behind them seems to move towards the front out of an amorphous background. It seems to reveal that the meaning of life is hidden there, in being connected to each other, in feeling a presence, in experiencing.

Why phenomenological Verism? I’m not referring to Verism as an Italian literary movement from the 19th century, but rather to its origins from the word "truth", which in turn differs from “realism”. I’m referring to the quality of an occurrence, the whispering of someone showing exactly who they are, in phenomenological nakedness.

Everything in Felix De Clercq’s work is essentially form and unicity. For example the chair in ‘Boy with a Watch’ is not just a chair, but it reflects the intriguing and uncertain atmosphere of the moment in which the things that refer to a distant past become immortalized.

  • Domenico de Chirico, 2020