When creating art on a specific location, artists like Vermeren willingly include themselves in the spatial, material and the historical context of the place. As a result, the concept of temporality invades her work before she even started painting. In fact, it is this sense for temporality that gradually drives the artistic product, from start to finish. Vermeren reflects the environment in her work. In doing this, she reproduces the rafters’ composition that exercises the same twofold power as the tectonic plates and the volcanoes: they support the roof and help balance the weight. Vermeren is also fascinated by the old factory’s history, as well as the many renovations executed in the close vicinity.
Karen Vermeren derives inspiration from observing physical changes in her environment over time. The focus of her artwork is geological landscapes, which is enforced by her fascination with the power of plate tectonics. Sediment tectonic plates only move a few centimeters each year. They can move in two directions: convergent, where plates move into one another; divergent, where plates move apart. These tectonic movements slowly give rise to both mountains and volcanoes. Not only is this key notion supported by scientific knowledge, but also empiric knowledge, which together forms the base for a poetic recognition and, at the same time, make a metaphorical approach possible. As the landscapes change, society changes too. These continuous cycles are hardly visible, but they are evidently tangible.
