Painter Luc Dondeyne uses light to wondrous effect in new show
A new show at Galerie Transit in Mechelen reveals that Flemish painter Luc Dondeyne has a become a true impressionist for this day and age
A painterly painter
Seen from a distance they emanate a calmness, albeit a melancholic and, at times, even eerie one. “Dazzle”, for instance, shows a woman from the back, staring at a window covered with a folio. Or the square (Trafalgar, to be exact, seen from the main entrance of the National Gallery) in “Static World” (pictured). The people seem to flee from its centre, being pushed to the side by an invisible yet overpowering force.
Or the most striking example, “Next Nature”. Trunks lie in the water, amid the reflection of trees. Is it a gentle nature scene? Or is it post-apocalyptic? Though green is the dominant colour of “Next Nature”, an up-close study of the painting reveals how one of the tree trunks is a swarming coalescence of greys, blues, whites, browns and beiges.
In the end, Dondeyne’s paintings are about light. The light that reflects in the window of “Dazzle”, in the splashing saturated blue water on a ship’s starboard side in “Drifting” or that mirrors the bubble that is “Wolk” (Cloud). It’s light, too, that bathes the square of “Yellow Shade” or dances through another (the one in front of Tate Modern) in “Alibi”.
Without ever copying the style of his 19th-century predecessors, Dondeyne has a become a true impressionist for this day and age.
Until 3 May at Galerie Transit, Mechelen
