Michaël de Kok

Michaël de Kok does not paint from life or photographs. In his studio, he reminisces of landscapes, often from the Pyrenees, where he sojourns every year. To recreate a specific moment of the past and create a new present, he refers only to memory. ...
It is as if in the creative process, the artist takes the liberty, not only of conjuring his personal experience in the representation of landscape, but also of reminding us of those from the history of Western Painting. The bluish mountain landscapes of Flemish Brabant historical and religious paintings immediately come to mind. As in Old Master Painting, that of Michaël de Kok is not simply the faithful reproduction of nature. The noble meaning of the word 'mimesis' is not imitation, but the sensory evocation of an image that is distinct from reality. The painting creates an image-space, which opens onto an alternative reality that we cannot enter and can only be visually experienced.
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Florent Bex, The Oneiric Landscapes of Michaël de Kok