Ronny Delrue studied painting at the School of Arts/KASK in Ghent and graduated with distinction from the HISK in Antwerp in 1994. His drawings and paintings almost exclusively depict heads. Sometimes these simply comprise a rough contour, whilst at other times paint is liberally applied. They appear to be seeking contact with us, but this is hindered by an absence of features. The heads represent mankind as a whole and sit somewhere between self-portraits, portraits and landscapes. Although they express the artist’s way of thinking, they above all throw us back upon ourselves and our inner workings. The central theme in Delrue’s work is the pollution, petrification and evanescence of the mind, which should ideally be pure. Every series is correlated to this in some way, and originates from a specific thought or emotional stimulus. The 2005 series Cerebriraptor (Brain Eater) specifically addresses people who have ceased to be in control of their own thoughts due to outside influences.
Delrue’s drawings and paintings are created in parallel, thus rendering drawing of primary importance. The medium allows him to portray – immediately and with great fluidity – the things with which he is confronted in his everyday life. In drawings, Delrue not only sketches out designs for later, but also captures mental exercises that help him to filter ideas and motifs. He describes drawings of this kind as an ‘ideas laboratory’. In addition, the artist also produces diary drawings and model drawings, to which he affords an autonomous status. The diary drawings are quick, impulsive studies in pencil, watercolour and/or gouache on paper. The colours are limited to black, grey, and brown. Brief notations record the time and date, as well as when the artist (also) drew with his left hand. These underline the diary format.
In his paintings too, Delrue battles with the mind. His canvases silt up beneath layers of grey paint. Landscapes appear to bathe in a dense mist and can only be descried as a fading memory. They flow over the edges of the canvas and cross into the space in which they are being exhibited. For the past ten years, Delrue has also experimented with other media, such as video, photo prints, graphics, and sculpture. For example, during a series of artist residencies at the EKWC (European centre-of-excellence for ceramics) in ’s-Hertogenbosch he developed his ‘mind sculptures’, sculptures in fired and unfired clay that Delrue regards as ‘buildings in which we can live and walk around.’ Working with different media influenced the further development of Delrue’s drawings. His PhD, which he completed in 2011, and in which the artist explored the importance of the drawing, led to his painting technique becoming quicker, lighter and more spontaneous.
