May 13, 2021
Over the past decade, the work of visual artist, graphic
novelist and art professor Brecht Vandenbroucke has graced the
virtual and paper pages of The New York Times, Variety, Le Monde,
Humo, Adult Swim, Wired, Têtu and many more. Fashion quickly came
calling too as he has created shirt prints for Prada and
collaborated with Walter Van Beirendonck, Diesel and Lacoste.
As a cultural reflector and narrator, Brecht mirrors every little
detail and perversion of our existence through hand-painted comic
strips and fills them with candour and pop iconography. His
signature style is unfettered by any medium, standing out on a
giant painting as well as a skateboard deck. After the impact of
his 2013 debut visual album ‘White cube’, Brecht has just
released his second graphic novel ‘Shady’, a self-defined
transitional book that delves into morality and our inability at
self-reflection.
On this episode of The Most, Brecht lays out his story from early
farm life to running a precocious publishing house as a kid. He
also opens up about having to mature quickly as a teen, why he took
a break from pop culture once and how reading Joseph Campbell
connected the dots for him to parse out cultural narratives. He
talks dealing with the tension between chaos and order, holistic
world views and the challenge behind weaving the ‘Shady’ storyline.
Hear how the acclaimed artist works to figure out his own art,
future ambitions and the importance of humility and
self-improvement.
Follow Brecht here. Buy ‘Shady’ online via Bries
Publishing here.
You can visit the expo ‘Assembled Stories’ featuring the work of
Brecht Vandenbroucke and Sarah Pschorn from May 15 till June 20
2021 at Galerie 10a.
Brecht Vandenbroucke's work is part of the permanent collection of the MiMa museum in Brussels.