Koen van den Broek: Blue Highway
de boer (Los Angeles) is pleased to present Blue Highway by Belgium-based artist Koen van den Broek. This is van den Broek’s second solo exhibition with the gallery, where he continues his investigation and representations of the built environment. Described by John C. Welchman as “consequentially “abstract” in appearance [and] scrupulously wise to the street,” van den Broek’s new paintings represent a profound evolution where they are made with the same tar and traffic paint used to repair and mark the road.
Koen van den Broek’s paintings (b. 1973 Bree, Belgium) explore subtle abstract forms embedded in the urban landscape. His work was presented at the 2015 and 2017 Venice Biennales, and in 2008 he collaborated with John Baldessari on a body of work exhibited at the Bonnefanten, Maastricht, and Galerie Greta Meert, Brussels. Van den Broek received his bachelor’s degree in architecture before studying painting at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, the St. Joost School of Art & Design in Breda, the Netherlands, and the Higher Institute of Fine Arts in Flanders, Antwerp. Architecture serves as the primary source of inspiration for Van den Broek. Painting from photographs of cracks in the sidewalk, shadows of buildings and bridges, highway overpasses, and stone curbs taken on his travels in Asia and the United States, he reduces these man-made architectural forms to their essential geometry. Devoid of figures, his canvases nonetheless imply the presence of human intervention.
Works by Koen van den Broek are part of major public collections, including the LACMA, Los Angeles; SMAK, Ghent; M HKA, Antwerp; Busan Museum of Art, Busan; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo; Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe, and Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle. His work has been presented at the Venice Biennial (2015 & 2017); White Cube, London; Kunstmuseum, Bonn; Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Antwerp and Brussels; Seoul Arts Centre, Seoul; Kunsthalle, Mannheim; Royal Academy, London; MAS, Antwerp, and Kunsthal, Rotterdam; His work can also be found in numerous public spaces in Belgium, such as the Hofkamer, Antwerp; ‘t Zilte, MAS, Antwerp; AZSM Hospital, Mechelen, and the Provinciehuis, Hasselt.