Bent Van Looy

Bent Van Looy (born in Belgium in 1976) has always been torn between two creative passions. As a musician with an art school background (or perhaps a painter who loved touring), he has been striving to excel at both crafts. Yet, he believes that sometimes the best approach is to do neither, to avoid producing subpar work. After taking a fifteen-year break, Bent finally found a studio where he could resume his painting practice.

Over the past year, he has been dedicating himself to creating modestly sized, figurative oil paintings. These works depict abandoned zoo enclosures, clown heads with a shiny appearance that could be mistaken for cookie jars, and other seemingly cheerful subjects. But beneath their surface, a sense of unsettling tension prevails.