Stefan Annerel

Stefan Annerel (born 1970, Dendermonde, Belgium) is a contemporary artist living and working in Antwerp.

Annerel studied at [http://www.kunst.sintlucas.wenk.be Sint-Lucas] in Ghent. He is represented by [http://www.kusseneers.com Kusseneers Gallery] in Antwerp and [http://www.galeriesmits.nl Galerie Smits] in Amsterdam. Recent exhibitions include "Pushing the Canvas" in [http://www.cultuurcentrummechelen.be Cultuurcentrum Mechelen] and [http://www.lineart.be Lineart] in Ghent.

On his work

Stefan Annerel's work consists of glossy, abstract “canvases”, in which horizontally and vertically painted bands of varying width define areas in a multitude of colours: orange, turquoise and black, green, lime and white, red, orange and deep blue, purple and green... The canvases resemble pieces of a chequered fabric, with a pattern that appears in all sorts of combinations and sizes.

In constructing his chequered patterns, he interweaves bands of colour and brightly coloured or brown tape, and creates different layers by using synthetic resin. Sometimes the paint and tape appear as what they are, but at times they are made to look like the other (e.g. suggesting tape with paint). As a result, the paintings turn out to be a trompe l'oeil. What at first sight seems to be a two-dimensional area, may prove to consist of various superimposed layers; what seems to be painted, may be tape; what seems anchored in abstraction, is sometimes based on a figurative element. When exhibiting these paintings, Annerel often extends the coloured bands onto the walls, where they provide a visual support for the paintings that hang above, underneath, on or in-between.

Annerel seeks inspiration in cheap fabrics and objects that are typical of the downmarket shops in the average shopping street - dishcloths in swearing colours, the red-white-blue or yellow-orange-green bags people often use to carry their laundry to the laundrette - but also in the tritest images from magazines. In a sense, he creates a trompe l’oeil by combining low culture (cheap consumer goods) and high culture (paintings).