Before the last cut • Maarten CEULEMANS

It all starts with a large tree stump that the artist slowly dismantles with a chainsaw.
With «before the last cut», Belgian artist Maarten Ceulemans (1983°) refers to a special moment in the creation process of his wooden sculptures. Specifically, the moment when the labor of sculpting suddenly is ceased. Those who are familiar with the artist’s oeuvre immediately know why this moment is so important to him. His subjects, in which humans, animals and nature are central, are often depicted in a badly fragmented way so that the work appears to be unfinished. The artist plays with contrasts. He combines unprocessed wood blocks or rough surfaces with meticulously worked-out details.
It is a three-dimensional snapshot from a creative process with which he almost forces the viewer to complete it in his/her imagination.
The artist works primarily around the figure. For several years now, wood has been his main medium. He shapes his sculptures with traditional tools (chisels, gouges, knives…) and techniques. The ever-changing experience of a sculpture during the creation process is for him a fertile breeding ground and generates new ideas.
In 2018, the Aarschot Cultural Council (ACR) awarded Maarten Ceulemans for his sculpture in limewood ‘Mister Grandjean’. This beautiful statue now adorns the town hall. That same year, ‘De Bleiter’ (slang for cry-baby), a 300 kg colossus head in bronze, is unveiled right in front of the gate to the Aarschot city’s park.
Maarten Ceulemans – who also teaches sculpture at the Hagelandse academie voor Beeldende Kunst (HABK) – participated in numerous group exhibitions throughout his young carreer. Today, LKFF Art
Projects is very proud to present hist first major catalogued solo show. The exhibition will present a series of +/- 15 recent sculptures, in wood, resin and bronze, alongside a charcoal drawings on paper.