ORGANIC WORKS
This text focuses on the central issue in Nick Ervinck’s work, namely the interaction between the physical and the virtual. The inherent tension between these two terms expresses one of the most fundamental challenges that Ervinck is trying to meet in his oeuvre.
The oeuvre of Nick Ervinck has one foot firmly planted in the digital world. This means that he does not only use the computer as an instrument, but that the digital logic largely determines his artistic thought and method as well. Using copy-paste, he applies images, shapes and textures of extremely diverse origins: basilicas, corals, dinosaurs, cottages, Rorschach inkblots, Chinese rocks and trees, Henry Moore and Hans Arp, manga, twelfth- century floral wallpaper, the anatomy of the human larynx, and so on. These elements are then digitally reproduced, mirrored, distorted and assembled. During this process, Ervinck works with procedures and patterns, although intuitive sculptural craftsmanship maintains a crucial role throughout the creative process. He thereby strives towards a balance in the final image between structure and complexity, figuration and abstraction, fancy and symmetry.
Of equal importance in Ervinck’s oeuvre is the other extreme, which contradicts the digital image on more than one level: the concrete, tangible matter. Whereas the digital age is still very young, the art of sculpture boasts a tradition of several millennia. Contrasting with the suppleness of the binary image is the inherent inflexibility of sculpture, especially when it aspires towards monumental proportions and longs to weather the elements.