Marijke De Cock Wall Sculptures at St. Vincent’s, Antwerp.

Combining intuition and tradition, Marijke De Cock’s exhibition of wall sculptures has opened at St. Vincents in Antwerp. This captivating debut sees spontaneously drawn lines lead to a dedicated and collective creative process, where mesmerizing volumes are transformed into an infinite multitude of minuscule glass beads.

Having worked as a designer for Dries Van Noten for a number of years, Marijke De Cock specialises in unique ornaments and jewellery for high-end fashion, often using embroidery techniques with a rich history. Her latest intriguing works are conceived as ornamental bas-reliefs, juxtaposing a shape that emerges intuitively with the rich tradition of a craft. Their elegant silhouettes originate from the moments she allows her hand to automatically produce doodles that escape familiar reality. These forms become drawings subsequently edited into blueprints, which are then entrusted to a dedicated team of traditional artisans in India. These skilled specialists carefully study her drawings and materialise them through embroidery techniques practised for generations.

Marijke’s wall sculptures form a coherent body of works but can be divided into two separate series: Swirls and Compositions.

The Swirls are directly related to the initial drawings and appear as monochrome volumes in either royal blue, black, gold, or iridescent oil black. They add a mesmerizing, voluminous shape to a room and introduce a vibrant interaction between the incoming light and the reflecting capacities of the innumerable glass beads.

For the Compositions, a varying number of the original drawings are considered as components, which are then assembled into variable configurations. Their coloured bead patterns and shapes contrast with the raw Belgian linen and appear to reveal a narrative, otherworldly and enchanting.

Related: Dancer Sydney Studio Exhibition by Korban/Flaubert.

[Images courtesy of Marijke De Cock. Photography by Ligia Poplowska and Alexander Popelier.]