Apart from the history of art and traditions of painting itself, I've always been inspired by video games. Not only as a means of escapism, but as a reflection of reality. The latter it shares with all art, but mostly with painting - the construction, translation, or simulation of reality on a two-dimensional surface.

I usually don't directly take from video games. What's important are not the images that are generated, but how they are generated; what techniques are used in 3d computer graphics. Many techniques correspond to those used in painting. In my work, I combine these two diverging fields that both construct a virtual world.

My reference material often is random - photographs of textures I find weirdly fascinating, pictures I find on the internet or in books, objets trouvés - and it's the history and tactility of the subject, and the technical possibilities of its translation that trigger my work.

Computer Generated Images are mostly projected unto flat surfaces, but consist of flat surfaces, too. A painting can be a simulacrum of a single object, as well as a representation of several objects. As an example, a door in a virtual environment can be a simple rectangular polygon with an image of a door mapped unto it, whereas a door-sized painting of a door could be mistaken for a real one.
The effect is often theatrical, as it undermines the nature of materiality and function, like props taken out of context.

These parallels have consequences for the reading of images. They put an emphasis on the character of the image, and its frame.

• How does an image relate to what it depicts?
• When does a surface become an object?
• How does framing the image influence its interpretation?
• How do image and technique relate to each other?
• How can texture be translated?

Reversely, through videos and animations I emphasize the crudeness and fallibility of digital reconstructions - a more playful and erratic practice that emphasizes the obscure symbolism of CGI and the fallacy of virtual realism.

Sint Lucas University College of Art and Design, Antwerp, Belgium

• 2012 - 2015
• Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Establishment/organization art collective Raumte

• 2013 - 2016

Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen (KASKA, Royal Art Academy of Antwerp), Belgium

• 2010 - 2012

Artez University of the Arts, Zwolle, The Netherlands

• 2007 - 2008
• Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)

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