Who is Billie?

A window that invites the sun to peak in and heat up a deep blue, soft carpet. Fingers scraping through every fibre and the sensation of slightly electric socks as the two materials are being rubbed together. A pirate doll and a plastic sailing boat turn the blue carpet, as if by necessity, into a wild ocean - organically unfolding exciting stories. Whether it is the pirate who hijacks the boat or a storm at sea that makes the capsizing of the boat inevitable. This is just one of the eloquent memories that painter Diego Boonen (b. 1993) can recall at lightning speed. Sometimes doubts arose whether this kind of leisure was normal at the peak of Diego's adolescence, but mostly the deep fascination for creating a narrative took over. 

In Diego Boonen’s practice, the storytelling aspect plays a central role. Boonen, a true autodidact, considers painting a method to tidy up an, at times, overflowing brain. An imaginative, childlike intellect is probably one of the greatest wealth indicators one can have today, Boonen believes. He regards his work as a direct manifest of incoming impulses. Billie is the product of a deep admiration for contemporary and vintage Western Cult. The sound of the authentic leather attire crackling as cowboys ride, the smell of the horses grazing on the dry grass and the sentiment of the burning afternoon sun. The Billie-series of Diego Boonen’s very first solo-exhibition ‘Billie’ serves as a tool to unrestrictedly discover this atmosphere. Each one of the characters and scenarios contribute to the creation of this improvised land. 

Yet the inspiration behind Boonen's work is not merely imagination. Many of the scenes or characters in his paintings are a twist on actual experiences, whether or not deriving from reality or his nightly dreams. In that sense, Billie is not purely fictional, since she carries within Boonen’s sentiments. Billie knows what it is like to have a broken heart and to distrust her antagonists. Diego Boonen thus invites us to approach his work, despite its high figurative content, the way one looks at abstract works - with the same liberal mind and interpretation. 

In truth, the feeling that arises when we first meet Billie and her entourage says a great deal about us and very little about Boonen. The series may be the outcome of his imagination, feelings and convictions - it is our own perception that gives it meaning. It is precisely the fine, discreet details that allow us to make Billie the subject of our lives. The spirit we associate with a character's hair colour or the sequence in which we assume that certain movements have taken place. In that sense, Boonen's solo exhibition ‘Billie’ is an invitation to check whether our inner cowboy-chick still holds her native childlike freedom.