24 october 2023, Wouter van den Eijkel
The studio of... Dieter Durinck
Dieter Durinck is a painter and the founder of Social Harmony, a small project space in the centre of Ghent. He also runs a small cassette label of the same name. The exhibition Flute Interlude is currently on display at the Pizza Gallery, inspired by an Arabic flute that Durinck once found at a thrift shop. For Flute Interlude, Durinck primarily painted flutes and hands, although he claims there was no predetermined plan. According to the artist, “The title and a kind of cohesion only emerged after creating the work. To me, that flute shows that anything can be a reason to paint. It’s also a form of hidden criticism towards a self-imposed consistency that is so prevalent everywhere.”
Where is your studio and what does it look like?
My studio is in the centre of Ghent in a 1990s-style office building that will soon be converted into apartments, like everywhere else. I’m able to work here thanks to the architect of that project, Xavier Donck, who was also a collector and, unfortunately, passed away this year.
What does a typical day in your studio look like?
I don’t really have a set schedule. I spend long days painting, alternating with digital work, screen printing and attempting to play music. It usually ends at Café Fatima around the corner.
Dieter Durinck, Flute Freestyle II, 2023, Pizza Gallery
One of the first things you find about you online are your Discogs and Bandcamp accounts. Can I assume that you play music while working?
Yes, I always have music playing. Right now, it’s a lot of NTS radio shows and mid-‘90s hip-hop mixtapes.
In addition to being a painter, you’re also a graphic designer and the owner-founder of Social Harmony in Ghent. What is Social Harmony exactly?
Wat is Social Harmony precies?
Social Harmony started at an old hotel in Ghent where we had a studio and organised lots of events. Now, it’s a small offSpace and cassette label. There’s no masterplan behind it, but somehow things keep happening without a budget :)
Is it easy to combine having a record label with your work as a painter?
I don’t consider it a real label since there are already so many good labels; it’s more like a small platform to occasionally release publications and tapes, similar to Risiko Press and Stenze Quo. I enjoy experimenting with different printing techniques like riso, screen printing and photocopies for flyers, posters and cassette covers. This always leads to new possibilities in my own painting.
Is combining roles/functions typical of your approach?
Yes, I enjoy working on different projects simultaneously and not just creating ‘personal’ paintings. This sometimes makes my work ‘unclear’ to others.
Dieter Durinck, Synthetik Folklore V, 2023, Pizza Gallery
Out of curiosity, what kind of music does Social Harmony release and why do you only release cassettes?
We release a wide range of genres, from New Age synth to Memphis rap. The reason we do cassettes is mostly because they’re affordable, easy to produce and I also love creating artwork for them. The next release will be a mixtape with music from the 1980s from rdp.tv.
Flute Interlude, your current show at Pizza Gallery, primarily features paintings of recorders. Musical instruments are rare in paintings, but the recorder, as an entry-level instrument, is especially unique. Is this an homage to the instrument?
The inspiration for this exhibition was an Arabic flute I found at a thrift shop that I painted as a disruptive element in a gestural painting. Afterwards, I used the same motif differently but repetitively within the frame. I’ve painted tubes as illusionistic 3D figures before, which was more like a kind of minimal figuration in more abstract work. To me, these flutes fit perfectly with that concept. The circles for the holes were made using an arts and crafts tool. So, it’s both folkloric and industrial and such simplicity evokes associations of Andean pan flute music groups, recorder lessons and the Greek god Pan. I listened to a lot of New Age musician Ariel Kalma while painting, so it’s also a homage to real flute music, without being strictly documentary.
Another recurring element in this series of works is hands, sometimes with balls on them. Is this a reference to playing the flute or recorder?
I’ve used hands in various ways within my work, usually originating from packaging materials for gloves. Here, it is linked to playing the flute, but it’s also a reference to the first album by the previously mentioned Ariel Kalma, who consistently drew the outline of his hand on the cover of his first album, Le Temps des Moissons, referencing the beginning of cave painting.
Dieter Durinck, Pipe dreams III, 2023, Pizza Gallery
Is there an underlying theme you want to explore in Flute Interlude, as was the case with your previous project, Bootleg Paintings?
There was no predetermined theme. The title and a kind of cohesion only emerged after creating the work. To me, that flute shows that anything can be a reason to paint. Here, it sometimes acts as a disruptive, bizarre, concrete element in more gestural/freestyle paintings, while at other times as an abstract, industrial or repetitive element. It’s also a kind of hidden critique of a form of self-imposed consistency that is prevalent in art today and something we were also taught in school: “You should strive for diversity and homogeneity within a series of works.” I don’t believe in that. By making that repetition so explicit with one motif, I do the same, somewhat like how Albert Oehlen critiqued painting by continuing to paint.
If I were to give you carte blanche, what kind of work would you create?
I’ve always wanted to create a series of metal racks inspired by convenience store shelves, with paintings on aluminium. But so far, I haven’t had the budget for it.
What are you currently working on?
Right now, I’m working on pieces for a group show featuring handkerchiefs, Les Mouchoirs de Poche, at Convent in Ghent in December. I’m also working on new paintings for Art Antwerp with Pizza Gallery and I’m creating various cassette covers. Additionally, I’m preparing two exhibitions for Social Harmony: Brigade Cynophile and Biceps France in November and Julien Auregan in December.
