JCJ VANDERHEYDEN, Twee-delig-raster, 1986
While organizing his solo exhibition at Galerie van Gelder in 1986, JCJ Vanderheyden told me how he once started with a bipartition. In the 1970s, when he resumed painting after a long time, a horizontal line on a canvas was unmistakably a horizon for him, but at the same time always a bipartition. He found that interesting and for decades he worked on developing dichotomies (including horizons).
The work 'Two-part-grid' was first shown at his exhibition in GvG in 1986. This painting, which is unusual for him, can be interpreted as a combination of 'gates' and 'frames', many of which he made. The special thing about this vertical bipartition - essentially a cutting through a black frame - is that a window-like view has been created with brush strokes that clearly vary in length. Very remarkable is the irregular rhythm and its stripes, which are virtually the same in both the left and right views, as if Vanderheyden wanted to paint a reflection or doubling of the surfaces.
By the way, the sides of the painting (top, left and right sides) are also black. The edge at the bottom has remained unpainted; the blue fabric can still be seen there. And so a gate was made along the sides. KvG, March 2024