Fuga in R
1967-2002
Print, 98 x 98 cm.
Materials: ink, canvas
Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. S0330_04).
In his visual poetry, De Vree makes use of the possibilities of both typography and means that are not purely linguistic, as yet still limited to simple graphic elements like lines and blocks of colour. The most extreme ‘imaging’ of letters is found in *Fuga in r*, a poem in which De Vree fugally transforms a solid, block-like letter ‘r’ into a geometric pattern. In this respect, he called visual poetry an ‘art of the fugue’. A minimal shift in letters generates a visually repetitive structure, similar to permutations of musical themes in fugues.