Leon Van Essche – A Selection from the Collection of Wilfried Wynants
Fluxus-inspired visual artist and poet Leon Van Essche (1919-1993), was a pioneer of Belgian concrete and visual poetry. In 1962, he co-founded the alternative and neo-experimental literary magazine Labris (1962-1973), which contained jazz-inspired poetry, and which was best known for its hermetic interpretation of poetry. The most enigmatic are the almost unreadable visual poems by Van Essche, which often take the form of line-and-point drawings, and abstract-geometric and psychedelic compositions. He later developed a more 'informal' plastic oeuvre. The plastic-poetic practice of Van Essche draws on various esoteric and occult traditions; as such, it is hard to fathom and remains shrouded in mystery. In addition to presenting a synthesizing overview, this archive presentation seeks to gain insight into the mysterious pictorial experiments of this enigmatic figure.
Items
Preliminary design Magadejen, 1962. Bound, with original drawings - ink on paper
Published in Labris X, 2 (april 1973)
DIGITALSUITE (for one finger & six characters), 1970
Published in Labris IX, 3 (July 1972).
Leon van Essche comes via the PP62 number of the magazine Kontrast in contact with poets with whom he will later found the magazine Labris, among them Ivo Vroom and Max Kazan (Jozef Bierkens)
Gepubliceerd in Labris IV, 1, november 1967
Leon Van Essche: Some of his own BIO-SE-PSI-BIBgraficks etc, 1969
Published in Los-Labrislos, 8 (august 1969).
Poster for the Leon Van Essche exhibition at the International Cultural Center (ICC) in Antwerp, March 14 - April 19, 1981
Second preliminary design for Magadejen, 1962
The poetry collection Magadejen appeared in the series Labirint issue no. 1, Begijnhofstraat 60 in Lier. Edition of 150 copies, 100 of which are numbered and signed.
Matholos in het Huis van Weerschijn (Entangling Dreams of a Slimemouldworm), 1981
Reeks van 84 werken waarvan het merendeel ongepubliceerd.
raul publiceert in 1985 twee prozateksten over Matholos in het tijdschrift Tempus Fugit - Flemishinternational (H) ‘arts’ magazine, nr. 1/2. De tekst Matholos de slijmworm schrijft namaals hier is afgedrukt in nr.1, p. 99-102, de tekst Laserflashed from the Matholos fields... of de gedoubleerde doorblaasde barokbarakken in nr.2 op p. 56-66. Vier jaar later publiceert raul onder de titel Voorbodige epitaafse epigrammaten voor Matholos een serie gedichten gericht aan de figuur Matholos; deze verschijnen ook in het tijdschrift Tempus Fugit - Flemishinternational (H) ‘arts’ magazine nr. 9, juli 1989, p. 135-138.
Typoscript of poem Nitrogeen by Leon Van Essche, published in De Tafelronde, jrg. V, nr. 2, 1958
Notebook with writing and drawings.
Notebook with writing and drawings from Leon Van Essche
Notebook Labris III
Notebook on the finances of Onderaards. Onderaards, a group of artists (1962-1967), was founded and led by Serge Largot (born in Bruges in 1929 as Ernest Aerts). Were part of this group: Fred Bervoets, Wannes van de Velde, Mark Meekers (Marcel Rademakers), Kari Bert, ....
Programma performance Leon Van Essche - ICC, 1981
Program for the performances at Leon Van Essche exhibition at the International Cultural Center (ICC) in Antwerp, March 14 - April 19, 1981
Redigerend from raul, was written in 1976, published in the magazine Koko, volume 2, number 1 (February 1977). Was also on display at the Leon van Essche exhibition at ICC, Antwerp, March 14 - April 19, 1981
Sketchbook with experiments including paint, saline and silver nitrate on paper (3 February 1959)
Elk gedicht wordt gevolgd door het Nederlandse woord dat het grafisch vertaalt. Gedateerd in 1967, verschenen in Labris, jaargang 6, nummer 2 (maart 1968)
Und ein Requiem für Adolf, 1977
Und ein Requiem für Adolf from raul, published in the magazine Koko, volume 2, number 4 (December 1977). Was also on display at the Leon van Essche exhibition at ICC, Antwerp, March 14 - April 19, 1981
Seaman's book from Leon Van Essche