Notes

Walter Leblanc is one of the most important representatives of kinetic and optical art. He was a prominent member of the Avantgarde Movement ‘Group Zero’.

Leblanc’s so-called “informel” painting is the result of a tension, an interaction of strict rules and creative freedom. He maintained a system which was in a certain sense very rigid, but unceasingly sought to exceed it with inventiveness. His work constantly appeals to the flexibility of the limits of the frame, and the limitations are modified to become possibilities. It is precisely this somewhat “laborious” way of working that led Walter Leblanc to create a disturbing, ever-intriguing body of work in which rhythm, order, and the desire to play with series, light, and human perception occupy a central place. I admire the perseverance, motivation and extreme logic that Leblanc applied to his work over the course of many years, which fluctuates between abstraction and figuration.

The way in which he managed to reconcile the severity of formal structures and his enthusiasm for free expression, akin to poetry, can therefore truly be called unique. This artist has indirectly proven that logic and a systematic approach need not necessarily be clinical and sterile. He created a form of “interactive” art before the term even existed, in which the spectator, who may contribute (consciously or otherwise) to the recreation of the work, plays a crucial role. (JAN HOET, Ghent, 2001)

In his own words:
“By the notion of Art, I mean a human creative activity that is of the highest importance, for it reflects, in its different disciplines, the spiritual and aesthetic concerns of a number of gifted individuals whose works have a tangible effect on the evolution of thought, on states of mind, on behaviour. For me, art is the differential collaboration of intellect, sensibility and talent, the conjunction of rigour and poetry, free expression reduced to the essential in the aesthetic intention.”
(22 June 1981, Walter Leblanc)