De Brock

23 May - 28 June, 2026 I Zeedijk 758, Knokke
Opening reception from 6 till 8 pm

De Brock is pleased to present its second solo exhibition with Austin Eddy, opening in presence of the artist. With a multidisciplinary practice encompassing painting, drawing, collage, sculpture and ceramics, Eddy’s extension of the traditional boundaries of representation and figuration draws upon historical precedents set by Cubism, Modernism and Geometric Abstraction, as well as his time spent studying under notable Chicago Imagist Barbara Rossi at the renowned School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Furthermore, he embraces inspiration from idiosyncratic or outsider artistic movements such as rural folk painting, colloquial quilting and homespun handicrafting, borrowing their vibrant, expansive colour palette; rejection of any hierarchical approach to medium or material; and relatable, quotidian imagery.

A predominant, recurrent use of bird motifs has marked Eddy’s empathetic image-making since the global coronavirus pandemic, originally emerging as an anthropological or allegorical attempt to elucidate our shared experience of living through unprecedented times. Alluding to grief, confinement and a yearning for independence through their transitoriness, encagement and flight respectively, his avian apologues speak to our societal conditions, interpersonal relationships and innate humanity. Now, in a time of increased global instability, when our sense of reality feels progressively more precarious, Eddy’s feathered subjects adapt to reflect the contemporary moment. Alongside, he seeks to engage a broader conversation around the power of the repeated motif, with many of the paintings grounded in observation, bridging ornithic fact and imagined fiction.

A desire for domesticity, stability and sanctuary is defined by interior compositions. Birds perch on windowstills, looking out perhaps apprehensively, as viewers look in longingly, simultaneously embodying and questioning the alliterative idiom that titles one painting, the Grass Is Greener. The paintings vibrate with immediacy, and while the message is somewhat mournful, that does not mean the messenger has to be. Eddy’s colourful, vivid palette; gestural, purposeful mark-making; and stylised, playful oil and pastel depictions serve as the sugar that helps their metaphorical, medicinal subject matter go down. Ultimately, each artwork’s title appears to suggest a hopeful tone, emphasising an optimistic world-view that trusts in the possibility of a peaceful International Toy Table, a universal Poem For Everyone and a democratised More Just Burden.