Lichtwerk [Lightwork]
1960
Sculpture, 122 x 122 cm.
Materials: plexi
Collection: Private Collection.
Van Hoeydonck works within the same perspective as Fontana, Yves Klein, the members of Zero and Nul, and other artists who through their art wish to closely ally themselves with the new era where the distinction between science fiction and everyday reality is becoming ever vaguer. Starting in 1958, Van Hoeydonck makes monochrome white-on-white paintings that under artificial light evoke cosmic depth – something fitting for the cover of an astrophysics textbook! He seeks to attain a comparable effect with white-on-white reliefs, until he discovers the potential of ground plexiglas. Just like the great pioneer Georges Vantongerloo (who he looks up in Paris), Van Hoeydonck sees plexiglas as a less ‘material’ medium. Using light’s refraction must evoke the intangibility of space in a truer and more ‘absolute’ way than any color or non-color on no matter what support.
