The paintings and installations of Matthieu Ronsse (Kortrijk, 1981) are fragments of a painterly discourse where experiment and the joy of creating are central. As long as the artwork is in Ronsse's hands, it remains subject to an ongoing creative process and is thus never perceived as ‘finished’.

Even during his exhibitions, transformations are continuously possible. For Ronsse, it is not the final image that is the focal point, but rather the essence of his work lies in the creative process along the way. The painting is simultaneously his palette: it self-reflexively contains the traces of its own production while showing the chance occurrences Ronsse encourages to evince a vigorous energy with his creative process. Fragments of work by old masters, depictions of the private sphere of the artist, and architecture and photography books are his recurring subjects. Together they form the fundamental ideas of his painterly imagination in which an accumulation of images and materials create these surprising possibilities and new avenues of exploration. Experiencing Ronsse's work is beyond looking at an image: it is about the complete immersion in the creative process of the artist.

Text by Tanguy Eeckhout (Courtesy Almine Rech Gallery)
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Photograph by Jules Faure