"Through the format of the
letter and the correspondence, Delrue implements his stance with regard
to the role of contemporary drawing as a valid generator of artistic
languages and as a humble, yet effectively poetic alternative to the
virtual circulation of digital images between the communication systems
that surround us." - Ory Dessau, art critic
"The unique
character and strength of Ronny Delrue's work are the result of his
intense search for the essence of Being. [...] In a highly meticulous,
almost obsessive way, he explores the sensitive fault line between
control and loss of control. The process, the path, the quest is of
fundamental importance to this exploration. The quest is not
idiosyncratic, it is not inward, it allows room for dialogue with
others, like a mirror image in which the encounter occurs, as in a
crossover of minds." - Carine Fol, artistic director CENTRALE for Contemporary Art, Brussels
"What
is more beautiful than the circle left on a piece of paper by a coffee
cup, even if an algorithm can produce a lifelike imitation? What is even
lovelier is the artists' ideas, the exchange, the noise, the
geographical and cultural differences, the slowness, the simplicity, the
banality, the trace, the moment, the text, the language, the distance,
the ideas, the powerlessness." - Philippe Van Cauteren, artistic director S.M.A.K., Ghent
In
recent years, Ronny Delrue (*1957) corresponded with six artists
namely: Martin Assig (Germany), Salam Atta Sabri (Iraq), Roger Ballen
(South Africa), Sanjeev Maharjan (Nepal), Mithu Sen (India) and
Christine Remacle (Belgium). Through exchanges in the form of drawings,
letter fragments and collages, among other things, this publication not
only explores the encounters between artists with different geographical
backgrounds and cultural attitudes; it also looks at Delrue's own
oeuvre from a new angle.
Ronny Delrue is a painter, but first and
foremost an artist for whom drawing is a core activity. For him, drawing
is a way of thinking, a state of being. For this project a conscious
decision was made to send the letters by post, as opposed to the swift
exchange of digitally scanned documents. Correspondances is an ode to slowness and a tribute to human acts, in which representation becomes the language of the encounter.
Text in English, French and Dutch.
