Danny Matthys

1975

Photography, 23 x 53 cm.
Materials:

Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. S0325).

Danny Matthys’ oeuvre includes diverse media such as photography, installation art, video, painting, assemblage and sculpture.  In his work he reconnoiters his surrounding environment.  He explores and analyzes this milieu, in the broadest sense of the word.  He scans the physical space; he studies and systematizes it.  The laying bare of structures is, however, always more important than the aesthetic characteristics.  Matthys wishes the viewer to become aware of the complexity of our ways of seeing.  From this vantage point, the work may be seen as a formalized investigation into the process of perception. 

The piece Wave, Saint Malo plays with the apparent contradiction between photography as a snapshot and the capturing of a time interval.  Looking at the work of Danny Matthys can best be described as a 'reading' process.  It invites a left-to-right reading, like a text.  Then we see an oncoming wave that engulfs a palette.  But if we change the direction of our reading, the series becomes much less unequivocal.  The readability of Danny Matthys' work is always paired with an awareness of structures.