The power of imagination
Chris Vanschoonbeek has had a dream for a long time, namely that of being able fully to live out his passion for art – and above all for sculpture – by running his own art gallery. His dream has now become reality. On 11 and 12 December, ArtSculptura is opening its doors in the magnificent provincial region of Hélécine. In the meantime, we went to talk with the future gallery curator.

Where did you acquire your great love of sculpture?
Chris Vanschoonbeek: “With my experience as a kinesiotherapist on the one hand, plus my love for art on the other, it’s not really all that odd that I feel so strongly attracted to the art of sculpture. The body’s morphology gets a fuller, more tangible, artistic expression, and as such speaks to me more loudly than other modes of artistic utterance.
A sculpture is always three-dimensional, enduring and immortal: it usually outlives us. It is not something thatneeds necessarily to be mounted on the wall - it can also find its rightful place for example in the middle of your living-room or in your garden.”

The name of your art gallery - ‘ArtSculptura’ leads one to suppose that you are going to display only sculpture there. Is this not rather exceptional for Belgium?
“Quite exceptional. Within Belgium, up till now there has really been only the open-air Middelheim museum in Antwerp as a model of a real museum, with permanent exhibition-rooms which are intended purely for sculpted art. That naturally gives my
‘ArtSculptura’ gallery its almost unique character. An important plus is also its location. My art gallery is located in the
right-hand wing of the neo-classical castle found in the province of Hélécine.

Did you go for any specific type of art in your collection?
“Yes. Gallery ArtSculptura displays primarily sculpture from Africa, more specifically Shona art from Zimbabwe and Burkina Art from Burkina Faso.
Shona art is fashionable because this art is completely accessible to all. This comes about because artists from Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia), as well as from Burkina Faso (formerly a French colony),have known many European influences. In this way they succeed in giving their work a culture-indifferent and European look, which from time to time results in unique works of art.”

Does a fine sculpture exert an influence on your mood?
“A sculpture in your house or garden exudes calm and rest. It gives you a feeling of relaxation and well-being. It exercises a benign effect on your mood and emotional state. Hence it is important that when you make your purchase, you get real pleasure from looking at the sculpture, for it’s a part of you.”

I take it there will an official opening ceremony for ArtSculptura?
“Oh, of course. By the way, we are taking the opportunity to make reference to the similarity between sculpture and a good wine. A fine sculpture is always very much like glass of good wine. Both are produced with great devotion and creativity. A good wine-grower is also an artist in his own way, when he strikes the right balance between color, bouquet and after-taste. Thus, ArtSculptura specifically asked the wine-specialists Dimbour at Landen to serve several carefully-selected white and red wines at the opening weekend on 11 and 12 December.”

And lastly, perhaps just one more question: does beauty know no borders?
“True art is without any doubt border-blind, as is the power of imagination, in fact.”