Each sculpture has an abundance of ‘entries’ or ‘viewholes’, unfathomable forms and unexpected additions.
His imagery is universal and contemporary but never dated, and it derives its visual tension from the duality of the artist’s mental world. The idea behind each sculpture has a highly philosophical foundation, ranging from Greek antiquity to Futurism. His fabulous figures emerge from a calculated range of images and a precise figurative sculptural form. Liévin d’Ydewalle disentangles almost intuitively the dynamics of the sculpture he has in mind from the blank, still virginal stainless steel. What radiates from his intellect has largely, if not entirely, to do with knowledge. Is there not the danger that man, the creator, will later be the victim of his own knowledge and ingenuity? This symbolism is in most cases the thread that runs through the whole of this artist’s work.
In his most recent work, horses become mechanical quadrupeds and birds simple origami creations. Is it his passion for the air and the art of flying that makes him so broad-minded, or is this open-mindedness and fantasticality a latent desire to put reality and the fear for mankind’s future into perspective?
When either layman or art-lover looks at this work in an unconditioned way, they are honoured with surprising, sublime discoveries and the question of the concerns of a passionate artist remain open.
Bio:
Liévin d’Ydewalle (b. Brussels 1937). After his agricultural studies he was a pilot in the Belgian Air Force from 1956 to 1966, after which he became a flight captain for Air Zaire. From 1976 he retreated to Beernem, where he discovered a new challenge as a farmer and artist. Since 1982 he has shown his always recognisable sculptures to the public, together with the technique and philosophy that is so individual to him.
He has works in major private collections all over the world. |
