Last Memories

The work of Ronny Delrue has been described as crystallisations of emotional and intellectual experiences. He works in the twilight zone between figurative and abstract art, and is particularly fascinated by cognitive oppositions such as presence and absence, beautiful and ugly, knowing and forgetting, past and future.

Although he often chooses his own memory as a theme – to record and investigate personal recollections and events – his work is less of a literal translation of personal emotions than a reflection on them. He wants his drawings and paintings not only to show something or to make it known, but above all else to reveal what is missing, what was lost or was always concealed. The artist emphasises this not only by painting, but also by painting over or covering up certain elements.

This fascination with what is ephemeral and transient recurs in the series of heliogravures based on old family photographs that the artist conceived in 2007. The series emerged from an arbitrary collection of prints purchased at flea markets. They are typical family snapshots of fathers, mothers and children posing. At the same time they are mirrors of a bygone reality to which importance is no longer attached. Delrue has also partly erased or obliterated the figures using Chinese ink and pencil, a procedure that brightens up the old images and gives them a contemporary look, but that also lays even more stress on the ghostliness of the past. The deliberate decision to enlarge the photographs makes the traces of the past all the more painful, almost grotesque.

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I herewith confirm my order of "Last Memories" at the shown catalogue price by paying the amount due by wire transfer to the Graphic Matter IBAN account BE 18 4480 7363 9165 (BIC KRED BEBB).