Rinus Van de Velde is a Belgian artist whose work spans a range of media, though he is best known for his large-scale narrative drawings. Each features a handwritten caption of one of his musings, which are often witty or existential in nature. While the charcoal drawings often depict him as a central figure, the majority of his colorful oil pastel works only insinuate a human presence.
Though Van de Velde’s work reads as plein air, he has never been to the places in his drawings and instead imagines them from the confines of his studio. At times the works take the form of letters to other artists, and he is often in dialogue with the likes of Matisse, Monet, Hockney, and Doig. With his drawings, he has created a fantasy life for himself of the places he wishes to have seen and the life he wishes to have lived. The images presented here feature work from his most recent shows at Max Hetzler in Paris and Tim Van Laere in Rome.
