1968-1969 : Transition from Academy to Professional World B 1968-1969 : After earning his degree in etching from the
Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten in Ghent, Ph. Van Snick is an assistant in the etching class of Pierre Vlerick during seven months. Through Vlerick he will participate in the Biennale de Paris in 1969. In 1969 Pierre Vlerick becomes director of the Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent. For Ph. Van Snick, this marks the end of this period of his life. [Interviews with Ph.V.S., studio, Brussels, 2006-2009] E / I At the end of his studies, Ph. Van Snick is in touch with the Plus Kern Gallery in Ghent and he regularly visits the Wide
White Space Gallery in Antwerp. In Ghent, Yves De Smet organizes an exhibition of the early Belgian abstract painters in the Plus Kern Gallery. Ph. Van Snick, who since his years at the academy has been interested in the work of Georges Van Tongerloo, now also discovers the work of Victor Servranckx, Paul Joostens, and others. In 1969-1970, Yves De Smet visits the first Belgian abstract artists or their surviving relatives, and Ph. Van Snick thereby accompanies him. In this way he comes into contact with the work of Prosper De Troyer, Pierre-Louis Flouquet, Marcel Baugniet, Jean-Jacques Gaillard, and others. Later, in 1973, he visits the Antwerp house of Paul Joostens, which is still rather intact, thanks to Rudi Rommens. In Antwerp Ph. Van Snick becomes acquainted with an internationally oriented art scene through the Wide White Space Gallery. R In 1968 Ph. Van Snick reads Nadja of André Breton, Paris,
Gallimard, 1964. TH / — Witte landschapschilderijen [6], numbered I to IV, 1968. In W these abstract landscapes the colors are painted over with
white oil paint. — Subsequently, Ph. Van Snick quits doing figurative works, and he begins to explore hardness versus softness as a subject. This culminates in Kooien, of which Synthese van Traditioneel L-vormige kamer [7], 1968-1969 is the main example. Two identical volumes, 2 × (350 × 400 × 250 cm), are placed one after the other without touching each other. One is made of iron (meshed wire) and is transparent ; the other consists of a wooden construct covered with unbleached cotton. Each volume also comes with a walkway, made of the same materials as the volume. The work is placed in the attic space of the Academie voor Schone Kunsten in Ghent during the time Ph. Van Snick was an assistant there, so it has not really been shown publicly. His work for the Biennale de Paris evolved from it.
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With these cages I wanted to symbolize a position against a
Chronology
[6] Witte landschapsschilderijen, 1967
1960 -1969