Fendry Ekel: Entries is a comprehensive monograph, with contributions by several international art historians, looking at the painter’s recent work on canvas from 2011 to 2015.
The first chapter, “Chess Problems: On the Paintings of Fendry Ekel,” is an introduction to Ekel’s work by Christophe Van Gerrewey. It addresses Ekel’s aesthetic thinking as well as the artistic strategies he applies when dealing with images. The rest of the book consists of essays by ten art historians, one curator, and one artist. All of the contributors are colleagues of Astrid Honold, and have been matched with a particular painting from Ekel’s oeuvre and invited to write about that specific painting referencing Van Gerrewey’s observations. This adaptation of the traditional “catalogue entry,” a concise commissioned text on one specific artwork, allows for an in-depth study of Ekel’s practice, based on phenomenological facts and brings together multiple perspectives as well as theoretical approaches.
