Using the computer as a palette he creates worlds and shapes purely from imagination. From hyperreal tree leafs to amorphous matter, Brand shows how contemporary 3d-technology has great expressive possibilities. From 2003 onwards Brand has abandoned his paintbrush. Ever since this point he has devoted himself to make maximum use of the artistic potential of digital media. They give him the liberty to construct both sculptural abstraction and natural imitation to an incredible degree of detail. In his newest works he combines the two in a chance meeting. In an imaginary world, completely build up from bits, he places an unidentifiable object that strengthens the illusion of the real of its decor.
Playfull, brightly coloured sculptures are exhibited in more than realistic surroundings, neither of them will ever become tangible. These fictional, design-like objects, set in a world that is just as fictional but perhaps more recognizable, make their public aware of the virtual character of the image.
Beyond the veil of lifelessness that digital images seem to generate lies an intense expressive power. This power shows itself in the ease with which his movies create dramatic effects using only light and scale. From one single leaf we effortlessly fly through an infinitely rendered forest. These moving images form a digital perpetual motion, an independent vacuum containing a single movement in space repeated infinitely. This creates a mathematical rhythm which has a mesmerizing, almost meditative effect. His works make the viewer aware of the notion that a landscape, either virtual or real, is a construction of association and personal perspective. We project our emotions on the world before us, it can be dreary, melancholic, cheerful and hopelessly romantic all at the same time. Eelco Brand doesn't imitate the landscape, he imitates the way we see it.
His digital prints and video-installations have been on show in Seoul, Berlin, Moscow and New York. Matérialisations virtuelle will show both recent projects and works made in the past two years. The exhibition serves as a survey of developments in digital imaging in the works of Brand, and also introduces the abstract as a new element in his oeuvre.