Title Eternamente en Fuga Como la Ola
Design Eddy Walrave (°1952, Veurne)
Material Belgian Blue Stone
Installation 2007
Location Koningsplein
Eddy Walrave has become a household name in Flanders and further afield. That is largely thanks to the unique way in which he works and models stone, almost exclusively Belgian Blue Stone, which is referred to as 'arduin’ (blue stone) by the locals. In essence, he does this to create a presence or rhythms that are striking due to their idiosyncratic imagery and the significance of their positions and gestures in stone.
The sculptures of Eddy Walrave are all shaped and cut using tools such as a hammer and chisel. Their skin is an open wound of light and dark which is criss-crossed and highlighted by the vertical repeat of horizontal lines. The material implies that feelings have been exposed, that a position or stimulus to movement is more than just a design detail.
The power and personality of Walrave’s sculptures lie in the subtle and yet multi-faceted light grey monochrome of his androgynous beings which take on characteristic poses which everyone understands and interprets according to their own experiences. This could signify a lonely daydream, a repressed observation, repentance and submission, or rebellion, but also a quiet presence as an enigmatic witness. It also presents a timeless existence which hovers between revealing itself and remaining shrouded, between pure form and stony imagination, between recognition and mystery.
(Text: Hugo Brutin)