Man Moved Mountain
People can do a lot when they work together. Even move mountains. Miners did so not only figuratively but also literally, as the many slag heaps in Limburg attest.
Man Moved Mountain , the new solo exhibition by An Vanderlinden, opens on 23 June at Le Charbonnage Art Residencies in Genk.
During the month of May I worked at Le Charbonnage Art Residencies by invitation, and as you could predict if you know me a little, I’m still working there :-D.
A month is in fact very short, too short, to work if you first have to find the raw material for your paint, if you still have to make paint, if you are used to working on one painting for about a month. Knowing that this Art Residency was going to end in a solo exhibition with the work I made here, I had to change tack.
The Genk landscape
So what other bow has that become? Well, the Genk landscape, loved by landscape painters in the late 19th century, just because it has been so changed by the coal mines, is now much loved by me. Before I was allowed to paint on the unloading floor in Beringen in 2018, I regularly went to the Genk slag heaps to walk, draw and paint. With watercolours. Nothing to exhibit, just, for relaxation.
The terrils have not only become beautiful nature, they are also a silent witness to what humans are capable of when they work together.
But did I just read watercolour paint? Indeed. And can you make that from coal? And then also goes on canvas? And does that also take you a month? And did you actually find coal from Zwartberg? Well, the answer to all those questions, you will get at Le Charbonnage Art Residencies, on Sunday 23 June, from 3pm :-D Exciting, isn’t it? I think so too. So I’m going to continue working for a while. Time is really short now :-D
See you soon!
Vernissage Sunday 23 June from 3pm to 6pm
Marcel Habetslaan 27, 3600 Genk
