Jeroen De Wandel (°1980 Ronse, Belgium) lives and works in Ghent, Belgium. He studied photography at Academy of Fine Arts, Ghent, Belgium.
Jeroen De Wandel combines material from his personal archive to generate new images. He recomposes, cuts, tears and pastes both analogue and digital pictures in his search for the unexpected.
Veiled, disguised, barely perceptible or pushed to the edge of the frame by layers of digital collage: Jeroen De Wandel leads our eye away from the image, ruptures the silence of the photograph and explores its relationship with painting.
Using his own photographs and found images from his personal archive, he recreates what threatens to be lost, the traces left when the carrier is damaged, and memory has faded. This is not simply about commemoration: De Wandel allows the power of the individual image to dictate how he overpaints, re-photographs and mounts the pictures.
In this interplay of inspiration and interrogation, the artist puts into perspective the notion of absolute truth in photography by reducing it to one of many possibilities. The often powerful evocation of tactility and texture – from sharp to almost abstract – refers to a world we know. But variations in scale and time create dissociation, a feeling of vulnerability and alienation.
Stripped of context, fragments are incorporated in a new language in which they are not so much carriers of meaning as building blocks.
Yet he does connect these discordant elements with snippets that are recognisable. Assimilated by our “inner eye”, they acquire their own time and rhythm, a new life. He makes us want to linger in his playful, poetic - and ironic - visual world.
Fiorella Stinders
Art & Culture teacher
Analogue & digital publications
2019 Amygdala I & II book dummies are looking for a publisher
2018 .tiff magazine, FoMu (Be)
2018 SemiZine (UK)
2018 Phases mag (Uk)
2017 selection of enso added to the permanent collection of LifeFramer (Uk)
2017 publications in online magazines: Semi Zine (Uk), PhMuseum (Uk)
2017 publication in D!ng (Uk)
2015 Publication photo in Cult Weekend, national newspaper De Morgen 7/11, Echo's Uit De Wijk project
Solo + group shows
2019 30 Days of .tiff, Group Expo, FoMu, Antwerp
Group show w/ Egon Van Herreweghe, Elena Aya Bundurakis, Ulla Deventer, Bertrand Cavalier, Lionel Jusseret, Léonard Pongo, Maroussia Prignot & Valerio Alvarez, Titus Simoens, Ann Vincent
2018 Verschil Maken, Group Expo, Tielt (6/12/2018-26/01/2019)
Group show w/ Johan De Wilde, Piet Hoens, Werner Cuvelier, Clementine Hoens, Hedwig Houben,
Willy De Sauter
2018 .tiff, Group Talk, FoMu, Antwerp (04/10/2018-09/2019)
Selection .tiff Magazine, w/ Titus Simoens, Ulla Deventer, Bertrand Cavalier, Léonard Pongo,
Elena Aya Bundarakis, Egon Ven Herreweghe, Valerio Alvarez & Maroussia Prignot, Lionel Jusseret
2018 Re-Bild, Group Expo, Gent (15-17/06/2018)
Group show w/ Christophe Simoen, David Bruneel, Erwin Van den Brande, Eric De Loof,
2017 Brugge Foto Turn/Return, Brugge (05/12/17-07/01/18, Be)
Group show w/ Dries Segers, Michel Mazonni, Aaron McElroy, Julie Van der Vaart
2017 Josey Dakota @ Recyclart, Brussel (28/11/17-27/01/18, Be)
2017 Land Van Fotografie, Gent (11/11/17, Be)
Group show w/Max Pinckers, Dieter De Lathouwer, more than100 artists
2017 Somerset Gallery, London (Sony World Photography, 21/04-07/5/17, Uk)
2017 Designmuseum, Gent (Tumult, 19/04/17, Be)
Group show w/ Willem Boel, Maranne Walravens, Tine Peuteman, Flore Tanghe
2017 A Photographer’s Journal, zine+expo, Cloud Gallery, Amsterdam ( launch 07/04/17,NL)
Group show w/ Vincent Delbrouck, Lara Gasparotto, Danny Griffioen and many more
2017 Shortlist Sony World Photography Awards, Catagory: Conceptual
2017 Pastorij, St Amandsberg (Be)
Duo expo w/Filip Gheysen
2016 Pitch Selection, De Donkere Kamer, Sluitertijd, Museum Dr Guislain (Be)
2016 Braakland, FoMu Fotomuseum, Antwerp (Be)
Group show
w/ Hendrik Braet, Dries Segers, Aurore Dal Mas,...
2016 1989, duo expo with Nadja Zheksimbaeva - Academy Of Fine Arts, Gent (Be)
2015 Official selection 'Synthesis' X International Media-Forum "Dialogue of cultures", Hermitage Museum Sint-Petersburg (RUS)
2015 An Sich/t/, Lindenlei, Gent (Be)
Group show w/ Katlijn Blanchaert, David Bruneel, An Debie,...
2015 Tumult, RIOT, Gent (Be) Work: Dancing In Time
2015 Artist of The Month, Zebrastraat, Gent (Be). Work: False Belief / Het Vijfde Seizoen
2014 Tumult, Lindenlei, Gent (Be). Work: False Belief
2012 Bonnefooi, Brussel (Be).Work: Record Collectors