Karl Mechnig possesses an outstanding skill as a painter and as a draughtsman, as well as showing a rich imagination and the gift of building up a captivating and intriguing structure from multiple reflections in which connections are suggested, waves of sensibility become signs, meanings appear that the viewer must grasp with attention before they disappear again. Thus each work is a playful and also deep riddle that demands a personal interpretation and that offers each individual viewer a haunting answer, a patterned coherence, a moment of emotion and of entering a garden of lust. This is facilitated by the rhythm of creatures and things, by a tension that grows as one looks through the visual power of the creator and inventor, Karl Mechnig.

Text by Hugo Brutin

Karl Mechnig lives and works in Aalst (Belgium).

2023
Lipstick on a cup of coffee (PAK)
FEAR (Beernem) Museum Guislain ism PAK

2022
Ik zal eens goed komen lachen met je expositie (Diskus Aalst – curator Jan De Nijs)
Eden Kunstenfestival (Roeselare)
Of mice and men (Verduyn Gallery Moregem)
No more secrets (PAK)
10 jaar Pak

2021
Fuck you (kunstenhuis Harelbeke – curator Klaus Verscheure)
Entre deux nuages (PAK)
A butterfly’s scream (Beernem – curator PAK en Museum Guislain)

2020
Crucifixion (PAK)
De blik (galerie Morbee Knokke – curator Daan Rau)
Barking dogs and drawing rooms (PAK)

2019
Wonderland, humans & landscapes (PAK)

2018
Faces (PAK ism Guislain museum), Beernem
Behind closed doors (PAK Gistel)
Between earth and heaven II (PAK)
Kastelenkunstroute Zottegem (CAS Zottegem)

2016
Drawing Rooms (PAK)
Karl Mechnig & Paul de Reus I presume (Utrecht) DAK

2015
Spiegel im Spiegel (Beernem PAK in samenwerking met Guislain museum)

2014
De dweil als alibi (CC De Spil/Roeselare)
Erscheinung (PAK/Gistel)

2013
Het Witte Huis (Roeselare)
“Het paradijs – le paradis – the paradise” (deel 2) – Galerie S & H De Buck
The Big Draw – Galerie S & H De Buck
Exchange (Brass/Brussel)

2012
“Bewogen beeld” : Galerie S & H De Buck
“Het Paradijs – le paradis – the paradise (deel 1) / Galerie S & H de Buck
Salon Blanc (Oostende)

2011
“La part des anges” : Villa de Olmen (Wieze) – curatoren Reniere & Depla

2010
“Miniaturen” : Museum 1302 (Kortrijk)
“Tell me a story” : Le coin c gallery (Knokke)

2009
“Stories” : Galerie S & H De Buck
“Zonder Grenzen” : CC Hasselt
“The Border / Gigacase Gent, Galerie S & H De Buck

2008
Modern Art Foundation Bejing (Bejing – China)
Galerie Denise Van De Velde (Aalst)
Belgische ambassade Bejing – China
“Miniaturen” CC Hasselt
Lineart Gent : Galerie S & H De Buck

2007
Boekentoren Gent
Kasteel Coloma (ism Denise Van De Velde)
Lineart Gent : Galerie S & H De Buck

2006
NV Zebrastraat (Gent)
“Gewonnen land / verdronken land“, Galerie S & H De Buck
Aula Rijksuniversiteit Gent 

Publications

“Contemporary art in Belgium 2007”, Bart De Baere & Henri Bounameaux
“Gras dat verder groeit“ met gedichten van Jozef Deleu
(H)art nr 5
“Merci Marie Petronelle” door Pascale Geulleaume
The Border 2009
Tussen hamer en aambeeld
(H)art Oktober 2012
Het paradijs – Le paradis – The paradise
80 Atelierbeelden door Didier Verriest
Erscheinung (H)art, november 2014
Between earth and heaven (a tribute to Willy Van Den Bussche) Stichting kunstboek. PAK
Spiegel im spiegel. (over de grenzen van de psychiatrie) PAK
Faces. (PAK)
TEKENINGEN Karl Mechnig : uitgeverij Matador nav Behind Closed Doors (PAK)