Switch
2015
Painting, 60.5 x 90 cm.
Materials: oil on canvas
Collection: Courtesy Koen van den Broek, Schilde.
A recent work by Van den Broek which fits the seasonal theme beautifully, even though it was not especially created for it. A curb and a pole with drop shadow which, by rendering them abstract, become the graphic elements that dictate the capabilities of the mental space which each canvas is. The red border makes a pendulum-like motion and leads to a dark area where the viewer does not know where it ends. The sign, which the post undoubtedly carries, is not readable. The components fail to indicate a clear direction. The perspective forces the eye in a direction, but the movement is a hindrance, a threshold. The red colour indicates danger. Yet, these are borders that invite to be exceeded or even ignored. A mental space which every spectator is bound to experience differently.
