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Born and bred Belgian artist Stephane Lejeune has been working and exhibiting in his home country for the past 15 years. A seminal artist, he describes his work as “halfway between realism and pure abstraction. I always search for the ideal boundary that passes the figurative abstraction.” On first glance, Lejeune expresses themes of the body and its relationship with nature
through the medium of ink on canvas. On closer inspection, different layers of his work become more apparent such as his use of contrasting murky, blurred colors with vibrant, sharp yellows in his piece Body in order to emphasize the contours of the undistinguishable body. Even the materials used by Lejeune have been taken into close consideration; his prominent use of ink in his drawings on canvas helps to reinforce the fluidity and movement of the human body.
Tackling themes of mortality, our environment and the transience of human existence, Lejeune is creating some of most exciting work of our time. Stephane Lejeune’s paintings are deeply representative of the movement and fluidity of the human body. He utilizes blurred paint and swift brushstrokes in his latest series, Bodies, to illustrate the human body in various forms. The bodies are barely recognizable; the viewers can only identify the positions they are in. Yet it is the unidentifiable quality that emphasizes Lejeune’s talent of combining realism and abstraction in these figures.
The contrast between the dark, murky colors and the bright whites and yellows highlight the contours of the body. Some paintings within the series forego the prominence of the figure and display the fusion of the body and canvas. Fluidity and movement of the human body is reinforced with the distinct use of ink in his paintings. With this expansive range of tools, Lejeune is able to express a dynamic , exciting range of figurative abstraction.
Lejeune’s works are creative figurative abstraction. He is able to depict the human body and its many forms and at the same time, portray the exquisite relationship of the figures to the canvas. Ultimately, freedom is conveyed through the movement and fluidity of the body; freedom from the temporal, physical world. In a magnificent and masterful way, Lejeune asks questions that delve into the nature of humans and civilization through his pieces.
– NY Arts
