JACQY DUVAL | AL’S OFFICE
September 8 - October 11, 2024
Our painting is an endeavor to express emotion and fulfill a deep need to connect with the mystical—a connection we find not only in the act of creation but also in our observation of nature and passion for art history. Our influences extend beyond the visual arts to design, literature, and music. We draw on abstraction, symmetry, and geometry, elements traditionally employed by both Eastern and Western cultures to reach the universal and the mystical. In our practice, we use the ancient "glue size" technique—a meticulous process where we prepare our own canvases and paints. This method, rooted in natural materials, reflects an ancient approach to connecting with the sacred essence of nature.
By reviving a lost technique in a contemporary context, we seek to bridge the past and present, generating an experience that feels both timeless and universal. The "glue size" process allows us to achieve colors that are both vibrant and profound, giving depth and life to the canvas. The juxtaposition of these colors is meant to evoke light and space, creating an energetic field that is at once engaging and challenging, yet harmonious. Through unconventional color combinations, we aim to invite viewers into a dynamic, contemplative space—a space where the visible and the invisible, the known and the unknown, converge.
Jacqueline Dehond (1965) and Koenraad Uyttendaele (1962) together comprise the duo of artists Jacqy duVal. They both studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, and went on to have careers as a designer and an art restorer, respectively. Inspired by their understanding of and passion for art history, they have been working together on a body of abstract paintings since 2009. In Jacqy duVal's artistic practice, the emphasis is on technique and color.
Their approach is indebted to both Western and Eastern abstraction, but resolutely contemporary in method and conception. They often work in series of interconnected, yet completely autonomous works, in which a vigorous dialogue is set between repetition and variations in colors and form.