The work of the Belgian artist Robert Devriendt is inextricably linked with film. His small-format paintings can be read as a series of stills, though what links these ‘filmic montages’ is often enigmatic, with no precise script. The viewer perceives the series of paintings as unsolved crimes, in which the people in the picture are actors: a man gazes at us; a young woman could be a murder victim. Or is she asleep? The viewer is automatically transformed into a co-director and creates his or her own story. Robert Devriendt’s series are like broken stories, in which the viewer’s interpretation takes centre stage. Broken Stories offers a survey of Robert Devriendt’s career, with the emphasis on his recent work.
With essays by Lorenzo Benedetti, Edwin Carels and Michael Amy.