Paul De Cocker (1931-2020) - Na het onweer

beautiful landscape by Paul De Cocker

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Paul De Cocker (pseudonym: PADECO) was a Belgian artist born in 1931 in Gavere/Vurste and died in 2020 in Ghent. He was a painter, draftsman, and graphic artist. He was a cousin of Henri De Cocker. He studied at Arts et Métiers in Nivelles and at the Drawing Academy in Saint-Trond. He debuted with expressionist rural scenes, but evolved toward a more contemporary symbolic realism, in which the woman often occupies a central place. The woman and the nude are rendered in hyperreal detail; the female face is incorporated into a composition with symbolic overtones. In his color palette pastel tonalities predominate. From the press: “Through refined symbolism he lyrically conveys a message. Deeper inner feelings such as joy, sorrow, hope and love he brings to the canvas through his beautiful women and their connection with nature,” and “P.D.C. works with synthetic paints, which provide a rather limited color range, but that meager palette is more than sufficient for a man who must master all sorts of techniques that lean very strongly toward graphics. He practices screen printing, which he integrates into his paintings without hesitation, just as in his paintings he also treats whole parts as drawing with pencil or watercolor pencil, uses stencils, employs monotype elements, in short: he experiments at will, grabbing at everything that comes to hand.” (R. Clement) He was also active as a stamp designer. He was a co-founder of the Kunstkring Spectrum and honorary chairman of the Kunstkring Joost De Clercq Marke. He worked alternately in Zwijnaarde and Le Bourg d’Hem-Creuse/France. He is listed in Kunstenaars en galerijen 1997, the fourth edition (2000) and in BAS II and Two centuries of signatures of Belgian artists. (Piron)