Klaas Rommelaere (b. 1986, Roeselare, lives and works in Antwerp) graduated as a fashion student from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent in 2013. He interned with Henrik Vibskov and Raf Simons, but realized that the fashion world was not the world where his ideas could come to life. Inspired by films, comics, books and personal experiences, Rommelaere began to translate his ideas into visual work, but still using the material he knew: needle, thread, wool and yarn.
Rommelaere's visual language is rooted both in the everyday of his life and in pop culture: quotes from movies or animations are mixed with interpersonal observations and experiences. Larger scenes and whole images are embroidered. The results are layered, strange visual stories.
In the beginning, Rommelaere embroidered his works onto canvas entirely by himself, which often took weeks and months. At some point, he began working with a group of elderly ladies in Merksem, Roeselare and Ingelmunster, who to this day assist him in cross-stitching, crocheting or knitting.
Solo Exhibitions
MEMORIE, Ter Posterie, Roeselare, Belgium
Johnny, Solopresentation at Art Brussels with Galerie Zink, Brussels, Belgium Dark Uncles
38CC, Delft, Netherlands
Cultural Center, Merksen, Belgium
Selected Group Exhibitions
Permanent Installation for Museum Sint Jans Hospitaal, Brugge, Belgium Craft! Now, Coda, Apeldoorn, Netherlands
Release of Johnny book with Art Paper Editions
Johnny, Madé Van Krimpen galery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Protest Processie Parade, Zeeuws Museum, Middelburg, Netherlands Memorie
Brecht as part of permanent collection, Museum M, Leuven, Belgium
Parlementstoelen, art project for Vlaams Parlement, Brussel, Belgium
Colors etc., lille3000, Lille, France
Newlyn Art Gallery, Newlyn, Great Britain
Cadavre exquis, DMW Art Space, Antwerp, Belgium
This is the sound of C, curated by Kris Campo, Zwaneberg Cultural Center, Heist-op-den-Berg, Belgium
Dark Uncles, Texture Museum Kortrijk, Belgium
Dark Uncles, Galerie Zink, Waldkirchen, Germany
Textus Ex Machina, aqbprojectspace Budapest, Hungary
Club 2: Handwerk/brocade, De Mastplanters, Museum of Fine Arts Ghent / SMAK Ghent, Belgium
Thinking With My Hands, Galerie Zink Waldkirchen, Germany
Everything happens at once, Galerie Zink, Brussels, Belgium
Clues (a speculative present), DMW Art Space, Antwerp, Belgium
Soft? Tactile Dialogues, MoMu Antwerp, Belgium
Adele, Galerie Zink, Waldkirchen, Germany
Plain/Purl, Designmuseum Gent, Ghent, Belgium
MadArt Fair, Madrid, Spain (with Eko and Moore Gallery)
Mask in Maskerade, Aalst, Belgium
Brut All, Ladodo Gallery, Milan, Italy
Basecamp at Artenova, Mechelen, Belgium
Club 1: Hunter/Jager, Stone Soup, Ghent, Belgium
On Ice, Campo, Ghent, Belgium
Atlantis After Plato, Croxhapox, Ghent, Belgium
BASECAMP Installation, Musée du Costume et de la Dentelle, Brussels, Belgium
HUMAN, Mechelsepleinfeesten, Antwerp, Belgium
Verbeke Foundation, Antwerp, Belgium
HUMAN Installation, Bouckenborghcastle, Antwerp, Belgium
Nvt Gallery, Gent, Belgium
Expo, Breda, The Netherlands (Collaboration with Brecht Vandenbroucke)