SOFACQ Gallery

The human figure is the main subject of Willem Cole's oeuvre. Starting from a mixture of science and painting, Cole makes portraits of friends and family members. He makes these portraits by displaying the specific weight of the portrayed in a volume, or lets the portrayed choose 2 colors from a whole color range. These shades show who they are (at the time). In the group portraits, strange color compositions are created as a result of human arbitrariness. The portraits are printed on glossy photo paper, so that the viewer experiences their mirror image as a second layer. The works are not mere painting, but cannot be defined as sculpture, installation. With the purest and purest possible result in mind, he mixes genres and media.

 

Willem Cole studied painting at the Sint Lucas Hogeschool in Ghent and was taught by Dan van Severen. Later he became his assistant and later became a painting teacher. In 2002 the S.M.A.K. a retrospective of his work.