Catalogue Distance to Zero

Fabrice Samyn is fascinated by transformation, particularly with respect to the element of time. His conceptual works of art deal with history, the passing of time and the effect of this on the representation of art. The way we look at art is always influenced by our memory and history. Samyn considers natural time phenomena such as erosion, for example, to be creative processes. At the same time, he emphasizes their poetic beauty. Language also plays a major role in Samyn’s work: he writes poetry to accompany his work, uses plays on words and meaningful titles.

Many of Samyn’s works refer to classical sculptures, Renaissance paintings and Dutch portraits. Or they are even reinventions of existing artworks. Both original and copied artefacts are carefully edited by Samyn to give the original images new meanings. He translates historic images to our contemporary perspective, which means that the past and the present are confronted and contrasted with each other.