Born in Ghent in 1983, Van de Moortel lives and works in Antwerp. Embodying the fervent spirit of concrete music and rock and roll, Van de Moortel’s process-driven work encompasses sculpture, painting and musical performance to explore the tension between the static nature of objects and their potential for energy. Van de Moortel’s mixed media paintings, figurative drawings and sculptures are assemblages of musical instrument fragments, neon tubing and other remnants of performance debris that, when combined, achieve an unexpected sense of harmony.  

​As an index of prior actions, he lays bare the permanent tension that exists between order and chaos with precision and refinement.

Like Arte Povera artist Mario Merz’s use of neon, that galvanized everyday objects and fused the organic with the inorganic, Van de Moortel creates dynamic, self-contained environments and applies neon as brushstrokes that escape the contour of representation, creating a force of energy and freeing itself from the frame.