Frock Gallery’s next exhibition is an exploration of human connection to the natural world. Dirk Steppe’s large format paintings of forests capture the feeling of being in nature. Myriam de Lafforest’s bronze figures circle back to the viewer and our shared experience.

During the exhibition, “Force of Nature,” we invite you to come and sit beside one of Myriam’s emotive statuettes and get lost in the forest. Her Degas-like figures will be engrossed in their solitary worlds within the dense, wooded landscape of Dirk Steppe’s paintings. Dirk’s paintings are of a scale that fills the room. They create a visual simulation of the forest and reinterpret the concept of the Sublime within painting. Most of Dirk’s paintings transport the viewer to a minimized position below a massive tree canopy rather then looking down on an enormous open expanse of nature.

FORCE OF NATURE

The forest has moods. On a hot sunny day, a thickly grown cedar grove can keep the forest floor cool, damp and in the dark. Likewise, a forest of birch can maintain a pleasant shade while tiny bits of sun sparkle through the canopy. On the other hand, a morning mist through the same woods can transform the parasol trees into mysterious columns rising infinitely towards the ambient gray heavens. A breeze creates an unintelligible chatter through the branches. Broken trees leaning against one another creak their troubled minds while loose fruits, nuts and pine cones thud on the ground. The exhibition, “Force of Nature” is an exploration of the human connection to the natural environment.

Dirk Steppe’s large format paintings of forests capture the feeling of being in nature. Tree trunks intertwine, branches intersect, leaves overlap in endlessly pleasing patterns just as it is under the canopy. Likewise, his paintings above the canopy feature the tall, majestic beings standing out alone and sometimes together in a grove or forest confronting the viewer the way they do in the natural world. They have all the time in the world. Dirk’s paintings have that same quality of quiet timeless being.

Myriam de Lafforest’s bronze figures circle back to the viewer. The human experience is punctuated by the same cycle of moods. We can feel misty or bright and sunny. We may need a friend to help us explore the darkness of our dense interior cedar groves. Our stories and troubles babble like the wind from one pair of ears to the next as a storm forms over head. Alternately, we may find ourselves in the arms of another, under the moon, swaying in the gentle breeze of love and kindness. Myriam’s figures, one to the next, seem to encompass all of these moods and human qualities.

VIRTUAL NATURE

Force of Nature also extends to the virtual forest experience created by Pendulum BV, a remarkable sensory technology installation created by Ypres-based entrepreneur Steven Dehollander. The Snoezle at Frock Gallery synchronizes sound with a carefully tailored light show around a forest theme. The generative idea for the technology came from the need to provide a mobile meditation and sensory experience that has a calming or stimulating effect for people with disabilities and mobility issues. However, it has also found a place with people looking for the beneficial effects of submersion into a natural environment. During "Force of Nature," visitors will have the opportunity to truly immerse themselves in nature.