Stijn Cole

Beyond Horizons @Dorotheum

During the Egmont Art Days, Yolande Debontridder curated a groups how at Dorotheum, the auction house for classical art. Around the theme of “beyond horizons” she selected works from: Stijn Cole Antoinette d’Ansembourg, Charlotte Cuny, Céline Cuvelier Anne Marie Finné, Rémy Hans, Megane Likin, Alba Suad & Emilie Terlinden    

Gardening the Forest Stijn Cole – Elise Peroi January 2024 @ Irène Laub Gallery

Gardening the Forest Stijn Cole / Elise Peroi 1/2024 @ Irène Laub Gallery This duo exhibition places the work of Stijn Cole in dialogue with the textile works of Elise Peroi. Both were inspired by the other’s practice to create new works. In Cole’s case, this results in a new series of paintings in which Gardening the Forest Stijn Cole – Elise Peroi January 2024 @ Irène Laub Gallery

Alt+1000 photo-festival

Alt+1000 photo-festival Longest day 21/6/2023 This work shows the evolution of colours during the longest day of 2023. Every minute the landscape in which the work eventually became presented was photographed. The colours of the sky, the pine tree row in the background and the field were abstracted to 1 average colour and edited together Alt+1000 photo-festival

Souvenir (Bronze)

This work is based on an existing 1933 painting by M. Rakowski. A Polish painter who lived in Brussels. After a trip to his homeland, he made a series of paintings as souvenirs. I’ve bought the original painting (oil on panel) at a flea market in Couvin. For me, this work is a souvenir of Souvenir (Bronze)

àmare

àmare àmare is the first edition of a sculpture walk in the beautiful area around the Damme canal in Bruges and Damme. On the bridge at bistro ‘t Apertje I integrated 3 concrete pedestals that copied the profile of the bridge. On top were placed 3 “souvenirs “. 3 Maas boulders with a flattened top àmare

Souvenir / Jumeaux

Souvenir / jumeaux These sculptures consist of a bronze replica of a branch in spring, the flower/leaf buds visible. The casting channels have been preserved, these form an interpretation of the branch due to the nature of the subject, mirroring it. The branch was patinated and the channels kept untreated bronze.

Art Antwerp / Irène Laub gallery

During Art Antwerp, I presented my first solo presentation at a fair. The ensemble consisted of 20 souvenirs based on 20 photos of the sea I took while walking the 64-km-long Belgian coast. I also showed 2 Blue -Prints, photos of a wave with a time fragment between both image layers. At the centre of Art Antwerp / Irène Laub gallery

Emergent Invites / Irène Laub Gallery

Emergent Invites is a small art fair in Veurne based art Center/gallery Emergent. Irène Laub gallery presented my works in combination with the work of Bernard Villers in one of the rooms.

Solid Horizon (Marble)

These works are composed of two marble slabs leaning against each other. Both slabs have a different size so there is no symmetrical angle but one of the two slabs is more slanted than the other. The top of the work forms a horizon at my eye level. I see these works as sublimated landscapes, Solid Horizon (Marble)

Solid Horizon (ceramics)

These works are composed of a number of ceramic plates arranged at an angle against the wall. Each tile has a different size. At the top, they form one straight line, a horizon at my eye level of 158cm. To achieve this, the tiles lean against the wall at different angles. The tiles where made Solid Horizon (ceramics)

Variations sur les mêmes thèmes

In the “Variations sur les mêmes thèmes” works, Cole uses a limited number of ingredients to create series in which each work is slightly different from the others. On top of a vertical photograph of the sea with the horizon perfectly in the middle, two areas of colour are screen-printed that together make up half Variations sur les mêmes thèmes

monochromes

The monochrome works always play with the reflection of light. By applying several layers of varnish or by using a spotlight to light up a part of the surface, rudimentary landscapes become visible, a horizon emerges and the surface evolves depending on the viewer’s angle of view.

Souvenir

The “Souvenir” works were created when Cole decided to move back to Flanders from the Walloon town of Chimay. As a souvenir of the landscape, he photographed solitary trees during the spring. These images were developed on Lambda paper and exposed to the sun throughout the summer. The left half was covered so that only Souvenir

1:1 drawings

De tekeningen van Stijn Cole lijken machinaal gemaakt, Cole leerde zichzelf een techniek aan waarbij hij via arceringen eenzelfde intensiteit kan aanhouden gedurende lange periodes. De 1:1 tekeningen verwijzen naar de schaal van het onderwerp. Cole plaatste een kader in het landschap en fotografeerde vanop een bepaalde afstand het landschap door dit kader. De positie 1:1 drawings

Timescapes

Timescapes” are photographic works that depict the evolution of a landscape’s colours over a period of time. Cole photographs the same landscape every minute for a certain period of time, a few hours, a day. All the colours of the sky are then converted into one average colour, and the same happens with those of Timescapes

Stormloop 2022

In Stormloop 2022, a group exhibition in Herentals with the theme “water”, I placed a 1:1 sculpture in the church. The work was in dialogue with a 16th century painting that represents Noah entering the ark together with his family. The work is a replica of a part of the French coast that is flooded Stormloop 2022

Land-scape

In these works, a three-dimensional component is added to a two-dimensional photograph. The image always consists of a disordered landscape, an image of the middle of a forest, the jungle. The work is printed in two parts on brushed aluminium, both parts are attached to each other by hinges that allow the angle to be Land-scape

Souvenir Bronze

These works consist of exact bronze replicas of tree branches that may or may not be attached to a brass construction strut. These works are stretched between the ceiling and the floor. As in many of his other works, Cole adds a geometric gesture to a natural element. The works become part of the architecture; Souvenir Bronze

Souvenirs

In these A3-size works, a photographic image is split up into the image (in black and white) and the colours. The colours present in the snapshot are listed from light to dark within a grid of 16×16 squares. Because the light colours end up at the top of this mathematical, computer-controlled list, many of these Souvenirs

Souvenir Marble

The marble “souvenirs” were created when Cole decided to move back to the city after 10 years of living in the countryside near Chimay. To remember the region, he started the souvenir works, one series consisted of photographic images, another of fragments of marble that Cole found in the woods around Chimay where Belgium’s red Souvenir Marble

Blue print

The “Blue prints” are photographic works. 2 snapshots, with a fraction of a second in between, of the same wave are mounted in front of each other. The first image is printed in a monochrome blue/green tint, the moment that follows in black and white on Plexiglas. The works acquire a three-dimensional character due to Blue print

No title

In these works, an image is divided into image and colour. The image is drawn, the colours placed on top within a grid of 16×16 squares, listing them from light to dark. A rudimentary two-part collage emerges.

Souvenirs

These flags show part of the crown of a tree. Waving in the wind, they evoke the movement of the leaves. Just like normal flags, they represent a location; for Cole himself they are very concrete places, but for a viewer the images become more universal or refer to places from their frame of reference.

Sevilla / Cordoba / Granada – New flags – LEAF Brussels with Irène Laub Gallery

Sevilla / Cordoba / Granada – New flags – LEAF Brussels with Irène Laub Gallery After 2 years of lockdown and reduced movement, my wife and I flew to Spain for a short trip between Seville, Cordoba and Granada. during that trip, I photographed the crowns of various trees to make a series of flags. Sevilla / Cordoba / Granada – New flags – LEAF Brussels with Irène Laub Gallery

Gedeelde werelden

Gedeelde werelden “Mémoire — mes moires…”, schreef de auteur Michel Leiris in zijn boek Langage tangage ou ce que les mots me disent, waarmee hij aangaf dat het geheugen een onstabiele faculteit is, even veranderlijk als de weerkaatsing van het licht op een zee met een onzekere horizon. Souvenirs d’été (Zomerherinneringen) is de titel die Gedeelde werelden

Stijn Cole / Shared Worlds

«Mémoire – mes moires…», writes Michel Leiris in his book Langage tangage ou ce que les mots me disent; emphasizing how unstable the faculty of memory is, as shifty as light reflections on a sea with an undefined horizon. ‘Souvenirs d’été’ is precisely the title Stijn Cole gave to his latest series of works, which Stijn Cole / Shared Worlds

Abstractions on the horizon

Stijn Cole has his first solo exhibition in Brussels, at Irène Laub: landscape ‘abstractions’ with an almost romantic evocative power. We remember his bronzes installed by Yolande De Bontridder in the opulent garden of the Villa Carpentier in Ronse, but also more monumental exhibitions at the S.M.A.K. and the MSK in Ghent, not forgetting a Abstractions on the horizon

Stijn Cole/ Des Mondes en partage

 « Mémoire — mes moires… », notait l’écrivain Michel Leiris, dans le livre Langage tangage ou ce que les mots me disent, soulignant combien la mémoire est une faculté instable, aussi changeante que des reflets de lumière sur une mer à l’horizon incertain. Souvenirs d’été est justement le titre qu’a donné Stijn Cole à ses dernières séries Stijn Cole/ Des Mondes en partage

L’heure Bleue / White rainbow

Stijn Cole’s black-and-white photos are Camera obscura images (L’heure bleue) in which the camera captures the light for an hour during the morning twilight. Cole made these works for the Images & Colors exhibition. White rainbow is a photograph of a rainbow converted to black and white. It forms a white arch in the image.

1:1 Sculptures

The 1:1 sculptures are exact replicas of parts of the landscape. Cole moulds a part with a rectangular surface in places that are meaningful to him but, as with the other works, take on a universal character once they are shown to the public. The first ” recordings ” of the landscape were 2 parts 1:1 Sculptures

colorscapes

In the “Colorscape” paintings, the same process is always applied: the colours from a photograph are ordered from light to dark within a grid of 16×16 squares. Because the light colours end up at the top of this mathematical, computer-controlled list, many of these works create the illusion of a horizon and an abstracted landscape. The colorscapes

Folds

By simply adding a fold where the hidden horizon in a misty landscape was, a new horizon appears. The work reacts to the rhythm of the light; the horizon formed by the shadow is sometimes more, sometimes less, or not visible at all.

Souvenirs – Irène Laub Gallery

Souvenirs – Irène Laub Gallery Brussels For his first solo exhibition at Irène Laub gallery, Stijn Cole presents a new body of work entitled «Souvenirs». Cole started creating these pieces upon moving back to Ghent during the first lockdown, as a tribute to the area of Chimay where he lived for several years. While seeking Souvenirs – Irène Laub Gallery

2 steps aside

2 steps aside: For this work, Cole made a journey from Texel (the Netherlands) to Bialowieza (Poland), a journey from a cultural landscape, the Dutch polders recently reclaimed from the sea, to the only remaining piece of primeval forest in Europe. In the middle of that journey (geographically and mentally), Cole visited a landscape park 2 steps aside

Time and Tide – Ter Posterie Roeselare

Time and Tide – Ter Posterie Roeselare Time and Tide was a groupshow at Terposterie with Frank & Robert, Tinus Vermeersch, Stief Desmet, Joost Gevaert and Stijn Cole curated by Louis-Philippe Van Eeckhoutte

Het licht van Stijn Cole

Het woord ‘Timescape’ heeft onmiskenbaar reminiscenties met ‘Landscape’. En met enige zin voor overdrijving zou je dit aspect van het kunstoeuvre van Stijn Cole zelfs kunnen linken aan het ‘pleinairisme’. Want Coles ‘Timescapes’ zijn in feite ‘landschappen in de tijd gezien’ en ze draaien om licht, lucht, landschap en/of zee. Maar daar houdt elke gelijkenis Het licht van Stijn Cole

The intimate consciousness of time – Irène Laub Gallery Brussels

The intimate consciousness of time – Irène Laub Gallery Brussels This group exhibition was a first collaboration with my Brussels gallery Irène Laub. I showed 3 “timescapes” from my series 60 journées d’été and some “souvenirs”. In addition, work by Bernard Villers, Gauthier Hubert, Gudny Rosa ingimarsdottir Athina Ioannou & guillermo Mora

La colère de lud – BPS22 Charleroi

La colère de lud – BPS22 Charleroi La colère de lud brings together some forty works recently acquired by the Province of Hainaut and, for the most part, never before exhibited in the museum. Starting from the notion of dispossession, the chosen works express experiences of uprooting, occupation, destruction, exhaustion; but also of resistance and La colère de lud – BPS22 Charleroi

Toutes les lignes droites sont courbes – Villa Carpentier Ronse

Toutes les lignes droites sont courbes – Villa Carpentier Ronse During the summer 2020, the exhibition “Toutes les lignes droites sont courbes”, curated by Yolande De Bontridder and Jennifer Plasman, was held in three exceptional locations within the city of Ronse (BE). Aiming to reflect the different aspects of Belgian and international contemporary sculpture, the Toutes les lignes droites sont courbes – Villa Carpentier Ronse

Sautadet 1:1

Sautadet 1:1 – Emiel Van Doren museum Genk In the summer of 2018 I went to Sautadet in southern France, a small village where the biggest attraction is a vast waterfall that is partly dry in the summer. I molded part of the surface and converted it into a bronze fountain that was given a Sautadet 1:1

Van Eyck in depth – GUM Ghent

Van Eyck in depth – GUM Ghent These two triptychs were made for the opening exhibition “Van Eyck in depth” in the Ghent university museum GUM, which is located in the botanical garden. I based the colors on three views of a forest landscape near Chimay (where I lived) and on those of three views Van Eyck in depth – GUM Ghent

Landscape 2.0 – Buda Kortrijk

Landscape 2.0 – Buda Kortrijk When we decided to move from the wooded, rural Chimay to Ghent, I decided to make a series of souvenirs in which I tried to capture the landscape. During the spring I went looking for solitary trees in a field and had these images developed analogously. I put those lambda Landscape 2.0 – Buda Kortrijk

Shore – (re)D Gallery Antwerp

Shore – (re)D Gallery Antwerp In this exhibition at the Antwerp (re)D Gallery, I brought together an ensemble of marines, 17 colors capes based on the colors of the sea in Calais, 4 bronze sculptures, 1 fold and a “Mexican wave”

GENESIS – LAC Narbonne

GENESIS – LAC Narbonne Berlinde De Bruyckere, Peter Buggenhout, Johan Tahon, Koen Vandenbroek, Renato Nicolodi, Ronny Delrue, Peter Decupere, Jonas Vansteenkiste, Pieter Vermeersch, Wesley Meuris & Stijn Cole in dialogue with the collection of the LAC: Piet Moet, Francois Morellet, Sol Lewitt, Yves Klein, Marlene Dumas,… curated by Christa Vyvey

Art Brussels – 2019 -(re)D Gallery

Art Brussels – 2019 -(re)D Gallery Put your hand in mine was the celebration of 10 years (re)D Gallery, previous Galerie Van De Weghe. I showed a bronze from the Cancale 1:1 series and the new Fold#2

‘Biënnale van de schilderkunst 2018’ – Roger Raveelmuseum, Machelen

Biënnale van de schilderkunst 2018 – Raveelmuseum Every two years, the MDD, the Raveel Museum and the Museum of Deinze and the Liestreek collaborate with the Biennial of Painting. In 2018 the focus was on landscape and my triptych “Finistère 1/4/2016 – 20:15” was shown at Raveelmuseum. The work was made for the exhibition El ‘Biënnale van de schilderkunst 2018’ – Roger Raveelmuseum, Machelen

l’extase -Belfius Tower Brussels

l’extase -Belfius Tower Brussels I made this work starting from the painting l’ecstasy by Frits Vandenberghe. Vandenberghe portrayed his young daughter in backlight while looking outside during spring. Next to her is a chair with a bouquet of flowers on it. I applied the same pattern, the colors of a spring landscape photographed from our l’extase -Belfius Tower Brussels

Entre terre et mer – (re)D Gallery Antwerp

Entre terre et mer – (re)D Gallery Antwerp In this exhibition at the Antwerp (re)D Gallery I brought together an ensemble of naval and landscapes, 5 Blue prints, 2 wax sculptures and 3 plaster works on which the sea is portrayed from 4 viewing angles.

1:1 Marine – C-mine Genk

1:1 Marine – C-Mine Genk In Genk I showed 4 types of work, 5 colorscape diptychs, 2 sculptures, a diorama in Blue key with a light projection.In the centre of the room I placed a metal structure on which 10 large photos of waves were placed. These images are built up in two layers. A 1:1 Marine – C-mine Genk

New colors – Designmuseum Ghent & 019

On top of the structure 019 installed as an alternative entrance to the Designmuseum in Ghent (Provincial Price for Graphic design) I placed a flag with the colors of the sky taken from the top of the tower during sunrise on the 8th June 2017 – 4:00 > 7:45

Vloed / Flood – Ten Bogaerde Koksijde

Vloed / Flood – Ten Bogaerde Koksijde In this group show, works were collected that had a connection with the sea. Ten Bogaerde is a project space and the Georges Grard museum. The works were not only in dialogue with each other but also with Grard’s sculptures. Curated by Els Wuyts  

1:1 – Château de Chimay

1:1 – Château de Chimay At the Chimay Castle, a castle that has been run by the same family for 1,000 years, I mapped out two routes that departed from a flag that stood in the courtyard, depicting the colors of the sunrise of a day just before the opening of the exhibition. From there 1:1 – Château de Chimay

Entre terre et mer – book

Entre terre et mer – book This book consists of 7 sections, each section focusing on one medium. All sections are interlinked with “12 stops to Santiago 1:1” as the core.

EL CAMINO – LAC Narbonne

EL CAMINO – LAC Narbonne Finistère / Fisterra For the exhibition El Camino (LAC Narbonne) I made a road trip to Santiago together with my daughter, who was 10 at the time. The first destination of our journey was Finistère in Brittany, the most western point of France. From the cliffs I took a picture EL CAMINO – LAC Narbonne

New dialogues – Anna Wenger Gallery

New dialogues – Anna Wenger Gallery For my first solo show at the Zurich Anna Wenger Gallery, I went in search of new interactions between the different series within my work. The exhibition was an introduction to almost all of my different media.

Halfway – ICC Brussels

Halfway – ICC Brussels At the Italian Cultural Center in Brussels, I exhibited 4 paintings that referenced 4 moments during a sunrise in Vittel. We chose Vittel as a location because this city is exactly in the middle between Laura Viale and my home. During the sunrise I photographed the landscape at 4 moments in Halfway – ICC Brussels

Chimay Cancale – (re)D Gallery Antwerp

Chimay Cancale – (re)D Gallery Antwerp In this exhibition I combined drawings and Colorscapes of the landscape (Chimay) with marines (Cancale). The drawings were conceived as rudimentary collages where the colors of a landscape were placed on top of a drawn image.

Façades – Be Part Waregem

Façades – Be Part Waregem 2 steps aside: For this work, I made a journey from Texel (the Netherlands) to Bialowieza (Poland), a journey from a cultural landscape, the Dutch polders recently reclaimed from the sea, to the only remaining piece of primeval forest in Europe. In the middle of that journey (geographically and mentally), Façades – Be Part Waregem

Sunset/Sunset

Sunset / Sunset Enkele gedachten bij het residentieproject van Stijn Cole Na Jan De Cock, Philippe Van Den Berg en Raoul De Keyzer is Stijn Cole de vierde kunstenaar die resideert in het Museum voor Schone Kunsten. Het is een aantrekkelijke, maar moeilijke residentieplek. Het gevaar om, als jonge hedendaagse kunstenaar, de confrontatie aan te Sunset/Sunset

Watzmann

Watzmann is one of the most famous mountain ranges used in German Romanticism. According to legend the range originated when King Watz and his family were turned into stone and some summits are referred to as Big Watz, Watzfrau ( Lady Watz) and Watzkinder. Casper David Friedrich never laid eyes on the mountains but used Watzmann

2 large Windows

One of the many challenges in art history is the quest for the ultimate spot in the landscape where great artists planted one’s easel and started creating their famous masterworks. It seems an impossible mission, the endless search for the needle in the haystack, but the satisfaction is immense : the discovery of the many 2 large Windows

Sur la route – SMAK Ghent

Sur la route – SMAK Ghent In 2007, a stage of the Tour de France arrived in Ghent. SMAK asked 20 artists to each ride a stage of the tour and to make an artistic report of it. I drove from Gap to Marseille. Upon arrival, I photographed the setting sun and processed these images Sur la route – SMAK Ghent

Kunst & Zwalm 2007

Kunst & Zwalm 2007 For the first time I added the colors of the land to my Timescapes. For six months, I went to photograph a landscape in Zwalm at regular intervals, each time during 2,5 hours. In the beginning a fallow field and in the summer a fully grown corn field. The colours on Kunst & Zwalm 2007

Ohne Titel – Kunstverein Ahlen

Ohne Titel @KunstVerein Ahlen Philippe Vancauteren had just started as director of SMAK and he invited me to make an exhibition for Kunstverein Ahlen in Germany.The space there was much too big for me, I didn’t have enough works, let alone works with which I wanted to be seen.  I painted an elementary landscape in Ohne Titel – Kunstverein Ahlen

Die landschaft

Die Landschaft Ce roc à Rio de Janeiro est célèbre. Autour de lui se dressent des montagnes échevelées; la mer les baigne. Des palmiers, des bananiers; la splendeur tropicale anime le site. On s’arrête, on y installe son fauteuil. Crac! Un cadre tout autour. Crac! Les quatre obliques d’une perspective! Votre chambre est installée face Die landschaft

Het landschap

Het landschap ‘Ce roc à Rio de Janeiro est célèbre. Autour de lui se dressent des montagnes échevelées; la mer les baigne. Des palmiers, des bananiers; la splendeur tropicale anime le site. On s’arrête, on y installe son fauteuil. Crac! Un cadre tout autour. Crac! Les quatre obliques d’une perspective! Votre chambre est installée face Het landschap

Picture This! – MDD Deurle

Picture this! – MDD Deurle In 2006 I was invited for a Picture This! expo (young artists) in MDD Deurle. I combined a painting in 2 key colors with all the landscapes with an infinite horizon from the museum’s collection. In addition, I showed 2 daylight works and a fluorescent tube lamp that copied the Picture This! – MDD Deurle

Betoverd Bos / Artificial landscape – Aalter

Betoverd Bos / Artificial landscape – Aalter For the group show enchanted forest I chalked a number of trees at the edge of the forest white from eye level to the crown. From a distance, the edge of the forest seemed about 20 metres closer. Curated by Angelique Campens