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Since the 1960s, Willy De Sauter has developed an oeuvre in which reduction and repetition play a central role. In the early monochrome canvas shown here, lines are created by folding the canvas itself: the geometry is not applied to the surface, but formed by the material itself.
In the later monochrome panels, this search for essence is taken further. Layer upon layer, De Sauter applies chalk and glue, sometimes mixed with pigment, to wooden panels. Variations between matt and smooth surfaces, traces of the brush or palette knife, and changing light reveal the richness that can reside within an ostensibly reduced surface.
It is a sustained exploration of what painting can fundamentally be — what De Sauter himself describes as fundamental painting.
1. Portret Willy De Sauter © Joost Joosen
2. Installation view Hilde Vandaele Gallery, 2023, Watou
Courtesy of Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerp (BE)
In the later monochrome panels, this search for essence is taken further. Layer upon layer, De Sauter applies chalk and glue, sometimes mixed with pigment, to wooden panels. Variations between matt and smooth surfaces, traces of the brush or palette knife, and changing light reveal the richness that can reside within an ostensibly reduced surface.
It is a sustained exploration of what painting can fundamentally be — what De Sauter himself describes as fundamental painting.
1. Portret Willy De Sauter © Joost Joosen
2. Installation view Hilde Vandaele Gallery, 2023, Watou
Courtesy of Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerp (BE)
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