The uncompromising aesthetics of the works Bram Vanderbeke shows within the soil scenography have a distinctively raw and pristine quality. They remind of brute, natural forces and excavated remnants of long-gone buildings – although their compositions are contemporary and man-made, and their forms and surfaces are delicately handled and finished. As such, New primitives and Casted Objects both introduce an interaction between past and current and propose a present-day and personal take on brutalism.

For Casted Objects, Bram arranges traditional bricks into both methodical and intuitive composition on the floor of his workings space. In this way, he creates negative spaces, which are then used as unique moulds for the creation of abstract and architectural furniture pieces – benches and stools.

This straightforward technique is inspired by the way in which construction workers realize the fundaments for a building. The resulting Casted Objects repeat the rhythm and texture of the brick moulds, including the stones’ raw and grainy surfaces. Their appearances intentionally approach those of unearthed architectural remains; realizing another dialogue between the worn, ancient aesthetics of archaeology and actual reflections on shape and materiality.

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