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. 

Jef Verheyen - Window on Infinity

© Carla Arocha & Stéphane Schraenen, photo Christine Clinckx / M HKA
Mechelen Marauder, 2014
Sculpture , 1400 x 200 cm
Mirrored Plexiglas and stainless steel

‘Mechelen Marauder fractures space. Its ephemeral,

translucent, cylindrical form reinforces the rotational

movement in space. Our aim is to provoke thought

by destabilising space. The mirror, as an everyday

object, functions as a medium that simultaneously

attracts and repels. The repulsion varies from viewer

to viewer as it fractures one’s image along with all

that crosses its path. It extends like a whirlwind

between the circular floor mosaic and the glass

ceiling – like something that barely seems to stop.’

 

Carla Arocha & Stéphane Schraenen, 2023