Werner Moonen - Arnolfini

The exhibition of drawings by Werner Moonen (Ghent 1940) in De Pont's project space pays tribute to this Tilburg artist on the occasion of his seventieth birthday. Ever since his art school days, Moonen has continued to work in Tilburg. From 1982 to 2000 Moonen taught at the Academie St. Joost in Breda. Among his students were Marc Mulders, Reinoud van Vught and Rob Birza, artists whose work can be found in De Pont's collection.

A recurrent theme in his work is Jan van Eyck's portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his young bride. For the past fifteen years Moonen has been fascinated with this small painting from 1434. In a great number of drawings he has attempted to fathom its perspective, its color and the artist's intentions. At times he zooms in on the figures and marvels at Arnolfini's cloak, which has the shape of Marcel Duchamp's bottle rack; but he might also focus on the painting's sanctified middle area, or take a step back and try to determine the spot where Jan van Eyck sat on his chair, in the backlighting of a window. The zooming in continues through the window and outside, where Moonen says we can see sunflowers on looking closely, through the window in Van Eyck's painting. The matter-of-factness with which Moonen deals with the painting by Van Eyck is rooted in his amazement at how the painting always eludes us.

Werner Moonen
Arnolfini
Kurator: Hendrik Driessen