Bio
Koen van den Broek was born in 1973 in Bree. He now lives and works in Antwerp. Recent solo exhibitions by Koen van den Broek include the Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht (2008 – 2009) and MuHKA, Antwerp (2008). Koen van den Broek is today considered by many as one of the best young painters, even on an international level.
Koen van den Broek has observed that ‘with just a few lines a space can be created’. In his paintings this space describes both the so-called ‘real’ world, and a more conceptual one – an empty highway, a deserted snow-bound village, or the abstraction born of a concrete stain on the corner of a big, anonymous town. Seemingly straightforward objects or landmarks – a red pipe, a footpath, bridge, barn or a truck – are painted with a blunt, descriptive clarity. Suddenly, however, the focus might, without warning, veer away from the big picture and hurtle into the details of a composition so skewed it takes a minute to recognize its provenance.
(Source: BAM www.bamart.be)