Frederic Van Overschelde: short stories

Dirk Schrijvers

Frederic Van Overschelde (°1964) comes from a family of neon blowers for commercial publicity. He did go in this line of work but he felt an urge to work with glass in a more free and artistic manner. This is why he entered at 30 years of age at the Instituut voor Kunstambachten (IKA) in Mechelen, Belgium, and studied for 8 years under Koen Vanderstukken. At the same time he participated in many workshops on different glass techniques. Due to his aptitude for glassblowing, he soon worked for many of his colleagues in the production of their blown pieces. His graduation work in 2002 consisted of coloured vessels with glass additions translating his tormented state of mind.

From 2002 to 2003, he continued his training at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, under Richard Price, with whom he continues to work at the Van Tetterode glass studio. At that time, there were big changes going on at the “Rietveld” and the glass department was threatened to be closed down. The students revolted and the slogan “Kiss my (gl)ass” became their battle cry. From this slogan Frederic made an iconic work in red neon with red fur (Figure 1). He graduated from the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam in 2003 with the first of his “short stories” which consisted of clear glass containers with an addition such as a ball or neon treat, representing stories about love and abandonment (Figure 2).
Besides his work of production pieces and work for other colleagues, he continues to tell his “short stories” consisting of combinations of clear glass containers with other materials and objects.

“I work with clear glass because I do not want colour to distract from the message. By combining different objects with the containers I want to tell a story. However, the viewer should explore the objects first by him(her)self and create his own filling in of the object. I have my own story linked to each object and explain this in the title of the piece. My themes are about family, connection, and love but also about treason, pain, deformation and hatred, all important human emotions and experiences.”
In his first solo exhibition, all the aspects of his artistic evolution are shown. With the pieces of neon work, his origin as a neon blower is well shown with the piece “Kiss my glass” as a highlight and one of the first short stories with the addition of a red neon bar. More recent pieces illustrate other aspects of his storytelling: by combining several containers with old keys he symbolizes the connection with the family. A bundle of keys connect a series of containers. The key leaves an imprint in the glass container. When the container is removed the key stays behind in the bundle and shows the abandonment of one of the components of the group (Figure 3: La Famille). The connections between vessels by means of cords or chains express the feeling of togetherness, too. However, where the cords can be loosened (Figure 4), the chains are fixed to the vessels which may lead to a choking experience (Figure 5). This is also expressed in the work where a flower is attached to the container with a chain: beautiful flower holding down the container (Figure 6).
Another series shows containers where an indentation or addition is made of a heart referring to love (Figure 7).
More aggressive feelings and stories are expressed by the works where the glass is cut or deformed by impressions of scissors (Figure 8) and knives (Figure 9).
In his newest work the objects are mostly replaced by glass additions. The containers contain small glass bubbles expressing inspiration (like champagne bubbles) (Figure 10) or aggressively formed balls that express sickness or unexpressed feelings (Figure 11).

This exhibition shows an overview of the artistic work by Frederic Van Overschelde ranging from his neon installations to new work. The intriguing short stories invite the viewer to create his own story and although no colour is present in the new work, it is so strong that the story the artist wants to tell is evident.

Until 30 June 2013 the artist’s work can be seen in AD gallery & Consultancy in Antwerp, Belgium.