THE ARTIST

RINUS VAN DE VELDE

Rinus Van de Velde is the biggest name to come out of the Belgian art scene in the last 15 years. He is most famous for his floor-to-ceiling charcoal drawings, immersive installations and films, but don’t let his impressive portfolio scare you: he is also a man that likes to encourage the younger generation to explore art, and who enjoys to read a book or watch a hit series. The multidisciplinary artist has known and worked with Tim Van Laere for more than a decade and considers him a close friend.

ARE YOU A MENTOR TO A NEW GENERATION OF YOUNG ARTISTS?

“I would never refer to myself as a mentor, but I do get a lot of messages on Instagram from high school students that would like to talk to me about their project. I do try to reply to most of them and I don’t mind making time for it. Because I know what it’s like, so I try to convince young people to create.”

“MY BEST DAYS ARE SPENT IN THE STUDIO”

WAS ART SOMETHING THAT WAS ENCOURAGED WHILE GROWING UP?

RINUS: “You could call my parents a bit culturally savvy, but the focus was never on art. We didn’t really go to a museum on weekends, but when we went on a trip to Florence we did visit the Pitti, as you do.

We also had a framed reproduction of Paul Klee in our house, so there was something there, but it’s not like we owned a library full of art books.”

WHEN DID YOU DECIDE TO BECOME AN ARTIST?

“Becoming an artist never crossed my mind until I was 16 years old: I accidentally stumbled upon a film about Basquiat’s life. The film is by Julian Schnabel, who’s also a painter, it stuck with me and for the first time ever I realized that you could live as an artist. That made a big impression on me. In 2000 I ended up in a museum in Paris with a friend, and that day I decided that I wanted to pursue a career as an artist. We were in a long queue and I wanted to leave, he convinced me to wait anyway, so that was the turning point. An interest arose during that trip, that really was a special moment for me in time. I then had to tell my parents that it was my plan to become an artist, and I am still grateful to them today that they responded very openly.”

HOW DID YOU MEET TIM VAN LAERE?

“As a student I often went to Tim’s gallery to look at the exhibitions, but I only knew him by sight. When I had just graduated, I needed a job, because I wasn’t earning anything from my work yet. I first started in the gallery as a builder, I installed the paintings for exhibitions and I thought that was a really great job at the time. I could ask him anything and learned a lot about how things work in the art world. Tim still says I was one of his worst employees ever. He is very generous and would always order food for the whole team. And I would basically wake up during lunch and start to fire 1001 questions at him. He has always followed my work and often came to see my exhibitions in the early days. At one point we decided to catch up over dinner, and then decided to work together. For me it was very logical to start a collaboration with Tim, because I already knew him, and because I trust him.”

AS YOU GET OLDER, DO YOU FIND YOURSELF MORE INTERESTED IN CERTAIN DISCIPLINES OVER OTHERS?

“I started out making drawings. But as I get older, my interest in media starts to take over. Drawing will always remain the core, I can’t imagine that it will stop, but I am also involved with film on a daily basis now. Ceramic is something that comes and goes. I consider myself primarily as an artist who works in different disciplines, but whose core is drawing.”

WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME?

“I try not to divide my life into work and free time. Otherwise it implies that drawing becomes a job, while that is what I love to do most. My best days are spent in my studio. I do things that other people like to do: I read a book or watch TV series, I like to go to dinner, spend time with my children... That’s how I like it best: when everything flows naturally.”