In his work, the table becomes a metaphor for interaction, dialogue, and confrontation, where tensions between the individual and society can be felt.
Hyun Dekempe (b. 1981) is of South Korean origin, was adopted by a family from Steenhuize-Wijnhuize, and lives in Velzeke-Ruddershove.
His work draws on personal experiences and everyday observations and takes shape through collages, in which he assembles paper, canvas, or cardboard into new compositions and then paints over them. He often finds inspiration in what happens around the kitchen table: eating or working together, during moments of silence, discussions, or meetings.
In his work, the table becomes a metaphor for interaction, dialogue, and confrontation, where tensions between the individual and society can be felt. The table furniture, cut out of canvas and then glued onto canvas, invites the viewer to symbolically “move” them and participate in the conversations. In various pieces of canvas, you can often still see traces of his creative process: the patches of cotton or paper remain visible, as do pencil lines, black smudges, and pale drippings.
The scenes featuring household items appear in various colors, with diverse decorative motifs of tile floors or tablecloths as contemporary still lifes.
Hyun Dekempe seeks out the unease, emphasizing and putting it into perspective at the same time, and is acutely aware of how symbols speak not only of identity but equally of exclusion: in a green work, a floor scrubber with a bucket stands in the center, referencing the election rhetoric “the great clean-up” of the Vlaams Blok at the time.