Paul De Vree

1971-2002

Print, 98 x 80 cm.
Materials: ink, canvas

Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. S0330_21).

De Vree used word montages and the graphic distribution of words on canvas to create visual pictures in which word and word image invite the viewer to create associations and where the visual picture can generate an aesthetic appreciation. He employed the typewriter to produce so-called ‘typograms’, poems which take on the form of a recognisable figure or object. De Vree used the phrase ‘in the shape of’ to highlight their figurative character. A stylised female torso is outlined in Eeroo-tic: the words ‘eerootic’ and ‘tic’ serve to suggest erogenous zones, including the mouth, breasts, navel and mons Veneris. These zones are represented both visually-graphically and semantically with the word ‘tic’. Eroticism is a recurrent theme in De Vree’s oeuvre. This subjective thematization is less present in the concrete-visual poetry, but recurs in the poesia visiva, in which De Vree denounces the brutal exploitation of sexuality in the mass media. No immediate message is present in Eeroo-tic, however, except the thematization of sexuality.