Mieke Vanmechelen

Having grown up with artistic parents, and feeling a strong connection to the Flemish masters, Mieke Vanmechelen deeply explores the power of color as a sculptural element to be shaped and textured by her sensitive yet powerful brushwork.  A palpable tension demands recognition in these exquisitely detailed paintings, a sense of both merging and separation existing in uneasy partnership. The consistent theme in her work of two imposing realms of color, which could either be floral parts or areas of the human body, being split by a more slender strip, serves to both separate and bind the two halves of the canvas.  Mieke Vanmechelen's works open up vistas both inner and outer, as the moments of near-impact of these shapes suggest both river tributaries split by hills, as well as abstractions of the human condition and its need for unity.

She has shown her innovative work throughout Europe and Ireland, and has been selected for the honor of exhibiting her paintings at the 2007 Florence Biennale.