Philippe Vandenberg was born in Ghent in 1952. It is in the Museum of Fine Arts of his native city that his encounter with work by Bosch and Gustave Van de Woestijne sparks off his fascination with painting. In 1972 when he decides to devote himself full-time to the study of painting and in 1976 he graduates with a degree from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent.
Text and image have grown intimately entwined in Philippe Vandenberg's oeuvre.
"The work of the eminent Belgian painter, draftsman and writer Philippe Vandenberg is characterised by an inner quest in which various literary, philosophical and art-historical references induce a temporary state of wonder. Using images, words and symbols, Vandenberg challenged the ethical context of the artwork. In so doing, his paintings and drawings remain rooted in the here and now, while also establishing a visually recognisable dialogue with the society in which they were created. Over the years, he endeavoured to transcend the tangible and to convert paint into light. In the works of Vandenberg, universal themes such as war, religion, movement, sexuality and death are crucially transformed."(philippevandenberg.be)
"Vandenberg wasn’t concerned with rules or originality. He was famous in the 1980s (he showed in New York at Denise Cadé Gallery) and then stopped in the 1990s, turning his back on the art world for a decade or so. He believed in the phoenix as a way for the progression of art—that is, out of the repetition and destruction of one artwork grew the next. It was a continual rewriting and redrawing process involving self-destruction."(artnews.com)
"He would begin by layering cartoonish figurative elements atop his signature abstract compositions – like a grinning man pushing a wheelbarrow full of cash, or a likeness of Yasser Arafat floating above a dog that appears to be defecating sausage links. Needless to say, some formerly supportive critics and collectors were not pleased.
From there, Vandenberg would gleefully follow his practice wherever it led him: to monochromes, text drawings, violently surreal figurative scenes, deceptively cheerful scenes incorporating swastikas, and soothing geometric compositions. ‘For him, a style was completely irrelevant,’ Hélène says. ‘In his career, he took a motif, he worked on it, and once he had the feeling that he’d become immobile – he destroyed it to start a new one.’"(hauserwirth.com)
Text and image have grown intimately entwined in Philippe Vandenberg's oeuvre.
"The work of the eminent Belgian painter, draftsman and writer Philippe Vandenberg is characterised by an inner quest in which various literary, philosophical and art-historical references induce a temporary state of wonder. Using images, words and symbols, Vandenberg challenged the ethical context of the artwork. In so doing, his paintings and drawings remain rooted in the here and now, while also establishing a visually recognisable dialogue with the society in which they were created. Over the years, he endeavoured to transcend the tangible and to convert paint into light. In the works of Vandenberg, universal themes such as war, religion, movement, sexuality and death are crucially transformed."(philippevandenberg.be)
"Vandenberg wasn’t concerned with rules or originality. He was famous in the 1980s (he showed in New York at Denise Cadé Gallery) and then stopped in the 1990s, turning his back on the art world for a decade or so. He believed in the phoenix as a way for the progression of art—that is, out of the repetition and destruction of one artwork grew the next. It was a continual rewriting and redrawing process involving self-destruction."(artnews.com)
"He would begin by layering cartoonish figurative elements atop his signature abstract compositions – like a grinning man pushing a wheelbarrow full of cash, or a likeness of Yasser Arafat floating above a dog that appears to be defecating sausage links. Needless to say, some formerly supportive critics and collectors were not pleased.
From there, Vandenberg would gleefully follow his practice wherever it led him: to monochromes, text drawings, violently surreal figurative scenes, deceptively cheerful scenes incorporating swastikas, and soothing geometric compositions. ‘For him, a style was completely irrelevant,’ Hélène says. ‘In his career, he took a motif, he worked on it, and once he had the feeling that he’d become immobile – he destroyed it to start a new one.’"(hauserwirth.com)
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