Continuer

"There is no other life. If I didn’t paint, I’d be bored to death. Like Samuel Beckett said: 'Il faut continuer, je ne peux pas continuer, je vais continuer.'" Walter Swennen in De Morgen, 2021.

Continuer depicts the doubt an artist can struggle with. The title refers to Irish writer Samuel Beckett's novel The Unnamable (1953) and to a quote from its brooding protagonist: ‘Il faut continuer, je ne peux pas continuer, je vais continuer.’ The blue-grey background recalls the drab world described in that book. The central undershirt or "marcelleke" points to the quintessential work clothes of artists. At the bottom of the canvas is an allusion to the motto of 15th-century painter Jan van Eyck, the figurehead of the Flemish Primitives: ALC IXH XAN. Roughly translated, it means "as best I can". But Swennen twists the words and sentiment around by adding a negation: IXH XAN NOT.

The painting also symbolises Swennen's personal struggle with his art practice. The doubt that rears its ugly head after every exhibition, sometimes for days or months on end. How each painting marks a fresh start, posing a new problem. How experience does very little to remedy that. And the question that pops up every time: shall I quit or continue?