Walter Swennen is known for his radical, experimental, and associative approach to painting. A poet before he became a painter, it is no coincidence that Swennen perceives painting to be an act of translation, and that language plays a vital role in his practice. The manner in which he handles motifs – taking them as he finds them, high or low, and manipulating them at will – is akin to a kind of visual poetry that harks back to his earlier career. Freely associative and humorous, Swennen’s paintings explore the relationship between symbols, legibility, meaning, and pictorial treatment. Published on the occasion of an eponymous exhibition at Xavier Hufkens (Brussels).

238 pages, 23 x 28 cm, hardcover, Xavier Hufkens (Brussels).