This publication contains forty works, created between 2018 and 2022 that were exhibited at Galerie Nicolas Krupp, Basel (04.11.2022 - 18.01.2023) and Xavier Hufkens, Brussels (09.06 to 05.08.2023). ‘what the body can do’ comprises a series of works that were made to try out certain colour combinations, layers, gestures, brush movements and other ‘preparatory’ activities for his paintings. When Swennen came across them later, he noticed that some of these paintings needed only minor changes or additions before resulting into a ‘finished work’. ‘Painting is a physical activity, evidence of which can be found as much in the mess, debris and accidental side creations in the studio as in the finished canvases. All the actions of painting pass through the body. Yet when seeing these works one is only vaguely aware that one has made them, Swennen will muse, “it is hard to tell which of me did it”.’
The book includes a text by British visual artist and writer Tom Mason (EN), who has been actively following Walter's work for fifteen years. Walter Swennen himself adds some thoughts.
Walter Swennen (b. 1946 Brussels) studied philosophy, switched to psychology and later taught psychoanalysis. He initially started out as a poet and happening artist before turning to painting in the early 1980s.
Walter Swennen is known for his radical, experimential and associative approach to painting, which is perhaps best summarised as a belief in the total autonomy of the artwork. For Swennen, a painting does not need to be ‘emotive’ or ‘understood’: the primary goal of painting is, quite simply, painting. Everything—form, colour, subject—comes from the outside. A poet before he became a painter, it is no coincidence that language plays a vital role in his practice.
The book launch will take place at WIELS, Brussels, Feb. 15 2025 at 3 pm.
The book is realised with the support of the artist and Xavier Hufkens.
