Philosopher Jacques Derrida likes to deconstruct
and dismantle written texts.
Artist Erik Pevernagie likes to deconstruct
visual representations.
He establishes links to events and to problems,
which people are confronted with, day by day.
For the artist, reality is a starting point,
not a purpose
He deconstructs reality, transforms it into
a puzzle and shows a particular interest in
details.
Truth is in the details.
Even the devil is in the detail.
He creates an artistic world that hides a
"hinterland" of interpretations.
Everything is converted in such a way that
the viewer looks for clarification.
But in order to give explanations, we need
definitions.
The artist knows, however, that definitions
and meanings change again and again.
He knows that truth and reality are very volatile,
indefinite, multi layered and sometimes very
paradoxical.
For that reason it is very tricky to emit
a preset definition or a fixed meaning for
the phenomena in our daily life.
In the spirit and the view of Jacques Derrida,
painter Pevernagie deconstructs the visual
world and translates it on canvas.
He places topics or subjects in a specific
context and gives them ambiguous and equivocal
contents.
As life itself is often indistinct and confusing,
he doesn't proceed in a univocal, unilateral
way.
So doing the spectator can engage in interpretations.
The passive viewer turns into an active participant
and becomes an accomplice of the painter's
deconstructions.
