Dilum Coppens (°1993) graduated with a MFA from LUCA School of Arts, Brussels in 2018. He currently works and lives in Brussels, Belgium.
Since childhood, Coppens has been fascinated by the world of fantasy: fairy tales, fantasy books, myths, sci-fi films, ...…
It places us in a world where the fantastical still exists, where mystery lurks around every corner. Today much has already been determined, much is known. In the past, we could more easily come into contact with the unknown, which made it possible for us to be amazed.
It is that which fascinates him about the fantastical: the mystery, the indeterminate, the wonder that allows us to fill these voids with our own stories and ideas.
As an artist, he draws this interest further into a multi-media practice of drawings, paintings, sculptures, digital works, and installations. Through complex references, he creates works where there seems to be a story or meaning, but which cannot fully be determined. By intuitively bringing images and texts together in a collage-like process, a flexible meaning is created that can be different for every person and at every moment. In this grey area between definition and mystery, a sense of wonder arises in the viewer. Each new encounter with the work can create new connections and generate new interpretations.
When he works, he thinks of an oracle trying to solidify her visions into images. The prophecies have a story and a certain direction, but the meaning of them isn’t fixed. Our destiny isn’t fixed, just as our interpretation of the world varies from person to person.
Just as he could get lost in the fantasy world of himself or others as a child, so can the viewer get lost in their meaning of his work.