LEONARDO CHRISTIAN ANKER AMADEUS VANDAL (1988, COPENHAGEN)
VANDAL IS A CONSCIENTIOUS MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST. NOSTALGIA AND MELANCHOLY PERMEATE THE EXPERIENCE OF HIS WORK. THERE IS AN ANTITHESIS BETWEEN PRESENCE AND ABSENCE, A WANDERING DIALOGUE BETWEEN REALITY AND ILLUSION. THIS INVITES THE VIEWER TO MEANDER IN THE LAND OF THE UNWANTED AND UNSEEN.
VANDAL’S WORK IS PURELY BASED ON THE INNER. THE ARTIST TRANSFORMS HIS EXPERIENCES OF PERSONAL TRAUMA IN HIS EARLY LIFE INTO A HIGHLY PERSONAL POETIC VISUAL LANGUAGE THROUGH THE USE OF EVERY MEDIUM HE FINDS RELEVANT WITHIN HIS REACH. THE WORK IS A FORM OF CATHARSIS FOR VANDAL.
THE PROCESS IN MAKING THE WORK PROVES THERAPEUTIC, AND THE VIEWER IS PRESENTED WITH SOMETHING DEEP AND SERENE. THE COLOURS IN HIS WORK ARE OFTEN AUTUMNAL. VANDAL’S IDEOLOGY IS BASED ON THE POET KEATS’ TERM “NEGATIVE CAPABILITY” AND IS DRAWN TO VARIOUS AND OFTEN UNUSUAL MEDIUMS FOR THEIR SYMBOLIC POTENCY. NATURAL MATERIALS SUCH AS REEDS, EARTH, AND TREE ROOTS REFERENCE BOTH TIME AND THE PATTERNS OF LIFE, DEATH, AND DECAY. VANDAL DEFINES HIS WORK AS A “MEDLEY OF SILENCE” AND “THE EMBROIDERY TO THE TIME HE IS GIVEN.” BY THIS HE ATTEMPTS TO BE IN DIRECT CONVERSATION WITH WHAT THE VIEWER IS EXPERIENCING.
ART IS AT THE SAME TIME A DREAM AND REALITY. BY STARING INTO ONE OF VANDAL’S PAINTINGS, THE VIEWER IS DRAWN INTO AN INNER WORLD, ONE BEGUN BY THE ARTIST, BUT IN THE MOMENT, IT IS JUST FOR THE VIEWER TO FIND THEMSELVES IN––A MOMENT IN TIME.