Rinus Van de Velde (1983 in Leuven, Belgium) is famous for his large-sized charcoal drawings. It is not unusual that he appears as a protagonist in his own works: be it as his artistic alter ego or based on the model of real-life personalities—Van de Velde creates characters who travel, investigate and search for their own self, a new inspiration, but sometimes merely for the next petrol station or a package of cigarettes. Almost automatically, his paintings compose a whole storyline in the imagination of the beholder. They nearly seem like scenes from an elaborated storyboard a cinema film could be created from. However, the artist turns the principle of the storyboard upside down.  

Van de Velde’s drawings are always based on collected visual material, which originates from many different sources: newspapers, magazines, the internet. Also, in parts, he produces his photographic templates on his own. In Van de Velde’s studio in Antwerp, sets that take up the whole room are created, in which the artist and his friends become extras in his story. The catalog presents drawings from the artist’s new work cycle in a large-sized format and in selected close-ups. Furthermore, the catalog guarantees an exclusive glimpse behind the scenes of the film project of Van de Velde, which is currently being produced. In an interview with Boris Pofalla, the artist himself talks about his works and his inspiration. Texts by Amely Deiss and Malte Kröger introduce the oeuvre of Rinus Van de Velde.