Bart Lodewijks

bartlodewijks@gmail.com +32 488 404 524

LOGIS FLORÉAL, COMMISSION FLEMISH COMMUNITY / WABO, BRUSSELS, 2022

While drawing, I hear the resident explaining the intention of the lines on the house front of his neighbour.

Chalk linedrawing on the corner of a house with green and yellow windows

CURAÇAO, RESIDENCY MONDRIAAN FUND / IBB, NETHERLANDS ANTILLES, 2007

I try to make the drawings so that no one sees anything in them.

Chalk linedrawing on an road with no cars yet with many skid marks

HAREN, COMMISSION PRISON HAREN, BRUSSELS, 2022

I squat down and concentrate, persuading myself that it’s a good idea and that I have the approval of everyone and nobody. Glancing over my shoulder left and right, I draw the first lines.

Chalk linedrawing on top of a tiny stonewall

KOLKATA, RESIDENCY MONDRIAAN FUND / CARF, INDIA, 2018

The geometric shapes I apply to the wall have a calming effect on me. By drawing the world I know so well literally on the city’s skin, I get a handle on things.

Chalk linedrawing on a wall with postboxes and a tree growing through it

KOLKATA, RESIDENCY MONDRIAAN FUND / CARF, INDIA, 2018

‘Where are you from? What is your telephone number? Where are you staying? What is your name? Are you married? What are you drawing? Why are you drawing? What are you doing next? Do you speak Hindi? When are you leaving? How much to you make? Who’s paying you, or is it a hobby?’
When I tell people about the transience of chalk, it never satisfies them.

Chalk linedrawing on a wall with a whole in it and a van behind it

GHENT, COMMISSION DE KOER, BELGIUM, 2019

Flat, elementary drawings without any suggestion of space form the core of my practice. Annie looks at the drawing and says, ‘Nothing exists on its own, and everything we care about is temporary.’

Chalk linedrawing on a concrete wall with anchors on it

CURAÇAO, RESIDENCY MONDRIAAN FUND / IBB, NETHERLANDS ANTILLES, 2007

The chalk lines are straight, forming the shortest connection between two points.

Chalk linedrawing on a dirtroad

NOORDEREILAND, COMMISSION MURALS INC., ROTTERDAM, NL, 2021

As I’m drawing, I’m constantly aware that I could fall into the water. My drawings thrive in rough places. I distrust beauty but am forever encountering it.

Chalk linedrawing on a the edge of a quay, just above the water

NOORDEREILAND, COMMISSION MURALS INC., ROTTERDAM, NL, 2021

‘I was wondering what intelligent child might have drawn such a thing,’ says a well-to-do woman.

Chalk linedrawing on a cornerhouse, from a low perspective

Biography

Bart Lodewijks (NL 1972) makes large scale, linear chalk drawings in public and private spaces. The drawings can be found on building facades, in hospitals and offices, but also inside private homes and the surrounding streets. His distinct abstract drawings respond to the social context in which they are made.

In the case of a long-term project, the artist documents the process in writing, photography and film. Images and texts come together in books, made together with art publisher ROMA publications; an essay was published in the Mondriaan Fund essay series. Film documents are made in collaboration with filmmaker Griet Teck. Since 2019, there have been regular collaborations with photographer Jan Kempenaers.

The Dutch Government Architect and the Flemish cities of Ronse, Genk, Ghent and Brussels have commissioned long-term projects. Emergent galerie (Veurne, Belgium) commissioned drawings in private homes. Lodewijks worked with S.M.A.K. - Ghent (TRACK 2012, Kathmandu Triennnale 2016), Capacete - Rio de Janeiro (2010, 2013), The Model Sligo - Ireland (2013-2016), Whitechapel Gallery - London (2014-2015), BOZAR - Brussels (2016), MMCA Seoul (2016), Calcutta Art & Research Foundation India (2018), KAAP Brugge, Belgium (2019-2021), OCMW Merelbeke, Belgium (2020), Noordereiland Rotterdam, Murals Inc, NL (2020-21), Kinderdagverblijf Bambino/Vlaamse gemeenschap, Belgium (2021), Art festival Watou, Belgium (2021), Platform 0090 Istanbul (2022), Prison Haren Brussels (2022)

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Publications