Born in 1969, on the brink of cultural revolution, when the dusk of post-Dadaism clashed with the dawn of non-conformist pop art, Alain composed his very first artefacts with Duplo. Creating abstract forms and structures, he instantly noticed the playing and interaction of bright and basic colours. As to express his cr… Read more

Born in 1969, on the brink of cultural revolution, when the dusk of post-Dadaism clashed with the dawn of non-conformist pop art, Alain composed his very first artefacts with Duplo. Creating abstract forms and structures, he instantly noticed the playing and interaction of bright and basic colours. As to express his creativity red, yellow, green and blue where his leidmotiv in kindergarten and, later on, in nursery school. From early age his parents noticed his keen eye for beauty, which he apparently encountered everywhere around him. He was given permission to enter the Tekenacademie of Mechelen at the age of eight, and stunned his teachers with his exquisite renditions of the urban life in the late seventies Belgian households. It wouldn’t take long for Alain to discover the wonderful world of photography, and he soon considered it easier to take a snapshot, rather than to draw. Needless to say these new possibilities to capture beauty, opened a new world to him. His work is very much characterized by the trauma’s he suffered during childhood. When in 1973, when Alain was twelve years of age, the Tekenacademie of Mechelen agreed to dedicate a very first overview exposition of his career. Unfortunately, he dropped his sketchbook on the way over and saw his drawings get lost in rain and wind. The few drawings he managed to recover, were torn to pieces by an oblivious bully who came after him for his pocket money (at the time still called ‘francs’ in Belgium). For years he refused to draw, and due to the lack of friends and any brothers, he started making conversation to himself. His parents didn’t see any harm whatsoever in this peculiar state of mind, and one has to know that all along the eighties, when Alain slowly reached adulthood, schizophrenia was something people didn’t talk about in rural Belgium. It took Alain quite a while to find his role in society. And I think we can call ourselves lucky to finally be able to see his work, which is unique today. The work he displays, clearly carries the heritance of his troubled youth and somewhat schizophrenic state of mind. It’s a unique opportunity to follow him on his beautiful journey, and as we join him on his road to catch the light, he might just as well enlighten us all.