Jef Verheyen
The Belgian ZERO artist Jef Verheyen (1932-1984) became known as the painter of light streams and colour spectra. He experimented not only with light, but also with movement and the invisible as means to evoke natural mechanisms and to reveal universal interrelationships between human beings and the surrounding world. He used geometric principles – his passion for geometry was born out of his interest in mathematics and (Greek) philosophy – as the basis for harmony. Verheyen never gave up on traditional media and materials such as the canvas, paint, and brushes to search for the essence of our nature.
In 1955, Gentils starts making abstract paintings with architectural references and stylised characters evocative of sculptural relief, work that seems to be an introduction to the hybrids for which he has become known. The objects that he begins producing as of 1957 are not purified forms like those of other abstract sculptors. He recycles scrap metal and leaves his work to chance until he arrives at a wanton counterweight to the 'most beautiful' building in the city.
