With a background in sculpture myself, I have always been fascinated by the way in which art has developed through the use of new materials and techniques.
Somewhat disappointed by the lack of renewal in contemporary sculpture, I turned towards architecture and applied sciences, in order to find a new formal language generated by computer software, composing forms and designs that were unthinkable in all those years before.
Not only does Nick Ervinck focus on the autonomous sculptural object, he also questions its spatial positioning and points to the phenomenological experience and embodiment of space. Ervinck's work in short oscillates between the static and the dynamic, prospecting new virtual or utopian territories.
Nick Ervinck creates huge installations, sculptures, prints, work drawings and animated films. For several years he participated in many individual projects and group shows. Recently he showed work at Ars Electronica Linz, CBK Emmen, Beelden aan Zee Den Haag, Bozar Brussels and LABoral Gijon. His work has been exhibited at MOCA Shanghai, MARTA Herford, Kunstverein Ahlen, Koraalberg Antwerp, Zebrastraat Ghent, HISK Ghent, Odette Ostend, Superstories Hasselt, Brakke Grond Amsterdam, MAMA Rotterdam and Telic Art Exchange Los Angeles/Berlin.
For Agrieborz, Nick Ervinck used imagery of human organs that he found in medical manuals as construction materials to create an organic form, a larynx 'gone wild'. Any coherent organization or structure, however, is lacking. The image becomes ungraspable, hovering in a virtual, potential or science-fictional world.
My images balance on the edge of functionality, spatial interventions, digital aesthetics and object-oriented eclecticism.
Using copy paste techniques in a 3D software environment, I derive images, shapes and textures from different sources: basilicas, corals, dinosaurs, cottages, Rorschach inkblots, Chinese rocks and trees, manga, twelfth-century floral wallpaper, fauna and flora, anatomical parts,…
Simultaneously, my work holds numerous references to the tradition of sculpture, (such as the work of Hans Arp, Henry Moore or Barbara Hepworth) and to architecture (think of Greg Lynn, who introduced the blob as an architectural constructive principle).
Consequently, I am particularly interested in how the computer can be used in the realisation of new, organic and experimental (negative) spaces and sculptures within sculptures and how the tension between blobs and boxes is articulated during the digital designing process.
Ervink received from 2000 several awards and nominations:
Kortemarkstraat 67
8810 Lichtervelde
Belgium
info@nickervinck.com
+32 51 620 437