Kevin van Braak

Kevin van Braak has been focusing his attention on issues related with the dominant ideologies. One of the artist’s particular processes is departing from images representing a certain ideology and to reproduce, restore or transform these images. The sculpture, installation and video are the main media used.

The role it plays in perpetuation or erasure of history, architecture is a recurring source. One of his most considerable works was the construction of a façade based on the modernist architecture of the fascist period, for the 14th Biennale of Carrara, a metaphor for the empty rhetoric and the decay of the political regime of the time when this piece was presented.

Scala is also a significant work on his way. The artist built a wooden replica of a spiral staircase, a mark of a building from the fascist period, designed by the Italian architect Ettore Sottsass senior, which was to be completely demolished.

In his latest exhibition at Quadrado Azul, Kevin van Braak placed a set of pieces of burnt clay on the floor of the gallery. Shards resulted from a process that began with the production of sixteen representative heads of figures closely linked to the economic, political and military administration of the planet.

Recently, the artist reproduced Franco's office desk, giving continuity to History is made of different shades of grey, a project he has been developing of reproducing office desks of controversial former world leaders and that includes the tables of Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Nixon.

CV

Solo Exhibitions (selection)

2009 — Red Heads / Bul Geun Eol Gul, Red Heads / Bul Geun Eol Gul, Mokpo, South Korea
2012 — Shards, Galeria Quadrado Azul, Lisbon, Portugal
2012 — Café des Espérances, kunstfort Vijfhuizen, Vijfhuizen, The Netherlands
2012 — History is made of different shades of grey, Prometeogallery di Ida Pisani, Milan, Italy
2009 — Books for burning? / Knygos sudeginimui?, CAC, Vilnius, Lithuania

Group Exhibitions (selection)

2007 — Vit<A>rti, Verbeke Foundation, Kemzeke, Belgium
2010 — Tales of the unexpected, Project Foundation, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2010 — Biennale Internazionale di Scultura di Carrara, Carrara, Italy
2010 — Psychsculptures, Middleburg, The Netherlands
2009 — Trailer-Park, Kunstfort Vijfhuizen, Vijfhuizen, The Netherlands
2009 — Books for burning? / Knygos sudeginimui?, X Baltic Triennal, CAC, Vilnius, Lithuania
2008 — Per adesso noi siamo qua, Villa Romana, Florence, Italy
2008 — Sarah's Journey, Biennale of Bulgaria, Varna, Bulgaria
2008 — With love, from Brussels, Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
2008 — Zidanes Melancholie, Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld, Germany
2008 — Utopia, Houtfabriek, Vlissingen, The Netherlands
2008 — Rencontres Internationales, Museo Nacional Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain
2008 — Utopia, Cultuurcentrum Knokke-Heist, Knokke-Heist, Belgium
2008 — Interiors, Grusenmeyer art gallery, Deurle, Belgium
2007 — New video-idioms from Italy, Ficci-Frames, Mumbai, India
2007 — Cyprus International Film Festival, Nicosia, Cyprus
2007 — Estuary, Nantes Biennale, Nantes, France
2007 — The exhibition you deserve, Cultural Center, Zagreb, Croatia
2006, Fondazione Olivetti, Rome, Italy
2006, American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy
2006 — Cascoland SA, Cape Town, South Africa
2012 — Between form and movements, Galleria Enrico Astuni, Bologna, Italy
2012 — knell dobre glas, Galeria Quadrado Azul, Porto/ Lisbon, Portugal
2012 — Dove è la città? Where is the city?, Sun, Florence, Italy
2014 — Invisible Violence, Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
2013 — Jornadas Contra Franco, Madrid, Spain
2013 — Territory, AVL-Mundo, Rotterdam, The Netherlands