Private collection
Doorenweerd’s earliest works were paintings in which an evocatively painted surface was broken up by spaces that were defined by lines. In the next stage, the element of painterly illusion disappeared, and concrete elements were arranged on the wall or even in front of it. The spatial element became dominant in 1991, when Doorenweerd built wooden flats that cut across his studio, divid-ing the simple space into separate volumes. That same year, he created his first outdoor work, for the garden of a private home in Merelbeke (Belgium). The borders of the garden, formed by trees, are accentuated on the sides and at the back by two perfect red brick walls, whose precise dimensions and positions transform the nearly random features of the garden into an environment where everything is in its place. (Wilma van Asseldonk)