ANTWERP.- Some time ago, David DeBusseré (1979, Ghent) made the decision to devote himself exclusively to painting: to depicting what slumbered deep inside him and giving form to it, every day.

Using admittedly simple visual language, he nevertheless moves and intrigues the viewer in a penetrating way. His thematic has been reduced to a rather unusual essence; the colour scheme is often monochrome, but the way in which the painting unfolds is convincing.

Birds on or in their small houses; their neatly arranged and gently surprising nesting boxes; a luminous heart in an avalanche of colour and a pulsing landscape: all become a sort of exotic garden in which colourful butterflies flit and balsa twigs move to create depth. The movement towards pictorial and physical rhythm is striking and – yet again - intriguing. All this is presented on a complex and sturdy structure behind glass, one in which paper has been assigned a protective role.

From his earliest youth, David DeBusseré was fascinated and captivated by visual language, colour and order. He started out in an abstract style and eventually built a figurative story around what can be described as a restorative and profound message.

Semi-solid acrylic paint is emphatically present; it is used as a monochrome that masks all tangible colour and luminosity or, in the case of the 'butterfly gardens', as a rhythm that reveals physical intensity and in which the light is accented with dark touches.

The artist, in his own words, paints every day and has now resolutely bidden farewell to the abstract forms with which he began his career and which he exhibited in large format in the Réserve of Knokke-Heist in the year 2000. This is because of his reservations; his state of mind; his message, which he wants both to grasp and share.

That message is fundamental; somewhat obvious, one might think at first glance, but on closer inspection, it is surprising in its simplicity and its persistent repetition, albeit in different ways.


After all, his entire current oeuvre strives to reflect a kind of well-being: a state of being happy, serene and aware of the manifestation of easily recognisable elements, presences, objects and signs. He evokes the leisurely flow of being calm and uncomplicated. He underlines the essential in appearances and is eloquent about what we can describe as a positive message, a balm for painful times, a warm touch of solidarity.

In this context, it seems to us an unusual and emphatically original idea that an artist can transmit a fundamental thought to the world and busy himself with what can be described as a conscious, all-enveloping ecstasy. He achieves this through the lyrical construction of spontaneous, sensitive and uncomplicated imagery: imagery of flying creatures - fragile birds and butterflies in radiant shades. These creatures are rare and cherished in an ethereal garden and watched over by a simple heart in a field of delicate rhythm.

His exhibition is, therefore, both a medium and a statement that is always, and especially these days, not without significance.

Much in contemporary visual display has to do with positing a train of thought through an exhibited object, a structure that at first sight seems to have been taken out of context and then which makes an urgent appeal to the viewer, whose initial response is often both surprised and disconcerted.

The scenes that David DeBusseré presents in an outspoken plastic form are on one hand the essence of being, or, on the other, you could call it the depiction of objects that create a certain atmosphere or meaning that can vary, depending on the viewer's attitude.

They are also simply parts of a visual language or of a plastic option that possesses and cherishes a universal meaning. Contrary to what often happens in that particular context, David DeBusseré's oeuvre does not evoke or convey an accusatory plea about climate degradation, but instead produces a rare atmosphere of well-being in a serene, confident aesthetic way.

His thematic reflects his vision of what belongs to the world of essentials and what he thus represents is for him an obvious depiction.

“My work expresses the basic idea of a new world in which I try to create happiness and the feeling of being carefree in a climate that functions perfectly. Structure is important. I start from chaos but I know perfectly well where I will have to end up.”

What the artist describes as chaos largely means a pattern not imposed by erudition or a strict education from which he can start when painting, but rather a whole set of experiences and images that, since his youth, have developed his plastic sensibility over the years, nurturing and forming it.

Now a decisive step has been taken and the confrontation with the viewer, who is seized by simplicity and expression, unfolds.

--hugo brutin (a.i.c.a.)