Johan De Wilde

Johan De Wilde (born 1964 in Zele) is a Belgian artist whose meticulous pencil drawings investigate the interplay between time, perception, and abstraction. Since the mid-1990s, he has developed a practice centered on labor-intensive works composed of layered horizontal and vertical lines, often executed in graphite and colored pencil on archival cardboard. Working predominantly in A4 format, a deliberate nod to universality, De Wilde's drawings evoke a sense of quiet contemplation, inviting viewers to engage with subtle shifts in form and texture. Recurring themes in his oeuvre include mathematical concepts like the number Pi, the passage of time, and the tension between the visible and the invisible. These motifs are explored through series such as Pars Pro Toto, which reinterprets the color schemes of Fra Angelico's frescoes, and History 241 – Faber vs. Pablo, a comparative study of industrial color palettes.