Bram Verstraeten

Lives and works in Antwerp

Bram Verstraeten creates artificial scenes, in which he always plays the leading role. The scenes take place on imaginary islands populated by the artist himself and his family members. Like Robinson Crusoe, Bram is taking them on an adventure. They set off to explore, with a flag in their hand and a cloth around their waist. Each scene stands alone but shown in a series they tell a story.

The sculptures have a somewhat classical appearance, partly due to the lack of color and the realistic design of the figures. The “Happy Islands” seem like dream images from an innocent and carefree childhood and are made in clay, wood and metal. A ritual dance, a raft ride, a stranded boat… perhaps they are evidence of an adult search for freedom and happiness.

With this feasible happiness the artist starts working on more recent work. He isolates elements from the “Happy islands” such as a banana tree and artificially recreates nature in series in epoxy. He even creates a new rainforest by molding the canopy according to his own symmetrical pattern.