Stefaan Dheedene (b. 1975 Kortrijk, Belgium) studied Fine Arts, specializing in Sculpture in Gent, Belgium from 1993 to 1998. He became Laureate of the Higher Institute for Fine Arts Antwerp in 2005. Recent selected solo/duo exhibitions include ‘Ghost shift’ in S.M.A.K., ‘Done. Finished.’ in Deweer Gallery and ‘Trinker at nine, Comments at five, Gran Paradiso at eight’ during Art Cologne – New Talents program. Selected group exhibitions include Dreams of power in Poznan (Poland 2011), ABC in Le Fresnoy (France 2010), Superstories, 2nd triennial of contemporary arts (Belgium, 2009), Something else!!!, MAN Museo d'Arte Provincia di Nuoro (Italy, 2009) or ContourLight, Mechelen (Belgium, 2009).
The works of Stefaan Dheedene all arise from a repetition and reorganisation of extremely recognisable signs and objects. Although the works are created separately, they usually come together in an exhibition structure as a place that reminds us of an order. They distance themselves from the avantgarde credo of the unconditionally new. Here, art is treated as an interpretation, a disappointment, a translation, and, before anything else, a construction. The process of repetition – as an artistic practice to which the aesthetic principles of chance, the incomplete and the irrational are crucial – also implies using the credit of thoughts that have condensed into ideas only recently. By dodging reality, imitation creates opportunities for reconsideration, thus becoming a mode of production in its own right. Accordingly, the works are not materialized ideals, but expressions of an ending. They are moments, in which the carefully constructed could collapse and turn into decay. At a given moment, the experiment is stopped by a finding, not an invention.
He is represented in Belgium by the Deweer Gallery. Stefaan Dheedene lives and works in Belgium.
For additional information about this artist, visit Mutual Art
