EELKE VAN WILLEGEN – GALERIE FRANZIS ENGELS (booth 59)

The mind is fear’, 2022, staal en verf,
110 x 210 x 76 cm

Eelke van Willegen makes work of great simplicity. Unaffected, natural, without display and quiet. The artist is a surfer. Surfing is fun. But surfing is also becoming silent. Reading the wave. Water wisdom. The perfect flight of the body between water, wind and sky. Salt foam on your lips. Simple surfing.
But appearances are deceptive; upon closer inspection, Eelke’s works are complex and deliberate. The form is driven by the action. Like the wave conforms to the sea floor. Like a breaker rolls with the tide. Eelke reduces the visible world to a simple drawing or spatial work. Powerful outlines. Not an easy task. Nor does that make it easy for the viewer. The viewer will have to “read” the work. Like the surfer the sea. But those who look closely will also have much to see.