Bart Kok: An Acorn Fell On My Head

EVENT DESCRIPTION

SENS Gallery is pleased to announce “An Acorn Fell On My Head”, a solo presentation of Dutch painter Bart Kok’s work in his debut exhibition in Hong Kong, from 16th of December 2022 to 14th of January 2023. The exhibition features transcendental landscapes emerging from within the artist’s illusive mind.

“An Acorn Fell On My Head” introduces the sublime forests standing tall in Bart Kok’s imaginary world. Whimsical landscapes come to life from the deep roots of art history, a symbiosis of the naturalistic yet abstract interpretations of Gustav Klimt’s landscapes, the bold tones of Fauvism and the shades of blue prominent in the nighttime works of van Gogh. Kok envisions a forest wonderland, pairing cooler shades against warmer tones to create the quirks of life. Kok’s fascinations with the mysteries and contemplations of life and death elude underneath the transience of nature.

Bart Kok strolls around his surroundings and wanders the canvas to find interest in the little details. Kok captures the small nuances which accentuate the complexity of the forest in the moment, from glimmers of light peeking out from tree branches to the colour transformations between the forest and outer fields. Limitations in the Dutch and Flemish geography he is familiar with provides him the opportunity to utilise his imagination to create mystical forests. Photography acts as a guideline to portraying the wondrous and the fantastical – though inspired by real life landscapes, he distances from reality to create an enigmatic image of nature. His brush techniques cite from rich stylistic repertoires of art history, in tandem with the elements of contemporary digital visual culture, like the oversaturating tones of light mimicking the brightness of colours on a computer screen.

Influenced by his new surroundings, Kok enforces the role of the forest as a vessel most able to showcase his painterly style. In addition, Kok’s bold brushstrokes emphasizing the different surfaces take inspiration from Georges Seurat’s pointillist techniques and the unique patterns in Klimt’s landscapes. As a Dutch painter, it is difficult for him to ignore the influence of van Gogh on his landscapes through the shades of blue across the canvas, using tones that are seen in the nighttime landscape paintings the latter artist is renowned for.

Deep shades of blue prominent on the canvas emanates the transience and calmness of the forest and offers a glimpse into Kok’s fascinations of the mystery of death in a dreamlike world. He attempts to capture the epiphanies beholding the landscape, alongside the ethereality he portrays through the trees. Life and death come against each other, where glowing colours of the surface juxtapose the gloomy colours of the trees and the sky. The forest serves as a metaphor for both life and death – the trees offer a sense of protection and security to the artist and the viewer, yet Kok deliberately conceals what dangers may be lurking deep in the forest’s grandeur.

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER