21 february 2022, Flor Linckens
Fran Van Coppenolle: “The viewer also feels that, a recognisability that is not unambiguously definable.”
Several art critics noticed that the textile works in particular stole the show during Frieze Los Angeles last week. Many of these works of art have been created by women, and that says something about the ways in which this art form has long been regarded. Textiles were not recognised as an art form for a long time because they were associated with gender-based work such as weaving, knitting and sewing. In the hierarchy of the art medium, painting has traditionally been at the top and textile art at the very bottom. Artists like the conceptual German artist Rosemarie Trockel have opposed this notion for several decades. For example, Trockel made gigantic framed knitting paintings, that she used to rebel against a male-dominated art world. In recent years, there has been an increased focus on art that is not made by white men and that means that there is also more attention for long undervalued art forms. As a result, you also see a young generation (often identifying as women) who are adopting textiles as a medium, including the young Belgian artist Fran Van Coppenolle (1998). A solo exhibition with her most recent work is currently on show at Galerie Transit in Mechelen (until 13 March).
Van Coppenolle describes herself as a sculptor and characterises her playful, spatial and apparently weightless works as “complementary stimuli to the form”, in which soft materials form a kind of skin for a hard skeleton. Van Coppenolle: “They influence each other and flow into each other like skin and skeleton. An inside space that is palpable and drafty. A swirl of empty space in a taut volume makes the colours brighter between the bones of the sculpture.” Light and cheerful, but at the same time subject to a certain tension. That contrast between hard and soft is a recurring element in her material combinations. In the exhibition in Galerie Transit, you will find traces of metal, textiles used in the garden to hinder root grow, eucalyptus fruits, felt, stone, chalk, a former dressing gown, alabaster, shoes and a fleece blanket. Van Coppenolle makes sustainable works from materials that had a previous life. These materials are then used as they come — Van Coppenolle rarely dyes her fabrics. The installations start as a sketch and develop into dynamic works that have something elusive and seem to suggest movement.
Fran Van Coppenolle, H22Ge18, 2022, Galerie Transit
The artist is inspired by a multitude of sources for her colourful and symmetrical works. Van Coppenolle: “I get my inspiration from everywhere. From botany, architecture, anatomy, tools and tractors to fashion or a prepared dish. I find inspiration when I’m milk cows with blue gloves and yellow sanitizer. There are so many unique and colourful combinations in this reality. I find it liberating to be able to show my works to the public. As you hand them over, they belong to the public and they are present before their eyes. I have nothing to do with it anymore. They are the results of past moments.” She does not give her works guiding titles and thus leaves room for the viewer's free interpretation. Van Coppenolle: “I am creating forms that comply with physical laws, spatial structures with an internal logic that evoke associations with architecture, fauna, flora, anatomy or medical objects. The viewer also feels that, a recognisability that is not unambiguously definable.”
Fran Van Coppenolle, G19, 2021, Galerie Transit
Van Coppenolle obtained her master's degree in sculpture at The Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp in 2020, after completing a bachelor's degree in sculpture at the KASK in Ghent. But she was making art long before she became acquainted with the big names in art history. Van Coppenolle: "I unconsciously still include it in my work, but my passion is more about making things than about the concept of 'art'."
Fran Van Coppenolle, Rd9W28, 2021, Galerie Transit
