On Tuesday, 5 March 2024, an introduction to the exhibition “Koen van den Broek – Of(f) Road” will take place for teachers of fine arts. The guided tour is aimed specifically at visual arts teachers and will be organised by our museum educator Hans Hartmann.
Kerbs, bridge pillars or empty streets_ Belgian artist Koen van den Broek (born 1973) makes the urban present the subject of his paintings and sketches. He moves with ease on the border between abstraction and depiction of reality. Koen van den Broek finds his inspiration in the photos he takes on road trips, primarily through the USA. These already focus on details and details that often appear enigmatic. Detached from their original contexts, the motifs develop a life of their own.
While at the beginning in the 1990s entire streets still attract his interest, the details from the real world become increasingly smaller, more concentrated and more abstract from the 2010s onwards. The seemingly unreal world of American highways with their wide roads, oversized billboards and architecture that appears abandoned in the vastness of the landscape captivate the painter, who is on the road as a traveller and depicts a world in which he is only temporarily present.
In conversations, Koen van den Broek refers to his strong affinity with American films, Quentin Tarantino’s low point-of-view perspectives or David Lynch’s recurring backdrops, themes or details that create a slightly ominous atmosphere full of ambiguity. “I like these non-places – those places where there is no plot, even in films,” says Koen van den Broek.
Register by 12 noon on the Saturday before by emailing kasse.ludwig-museum@stadt.koblenz.de or calling 0261/129 2406 during opening hours. Please bring your school certificate with you.