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Bio/Statement

I’m a Belgian-born drummer, photographer, and educator, now based in Los Angeles.

First there was music. I enrolled at the local music school in Kampenhout, Belgium at age 10, and was touring internationally by 14 with what would become Los Venturas, a band that lasted 25 years, released 6 albums, and toured worldwide. Alongside it, I played with artists including Chatz Kostas, Jobee Project, Masala, and Venusberg, taught at Class & Jazz music school, and worked as a science teacher at Sint-Lukas Art School Brussels. Today I tour as a drummer with ao Surfer Joe, Jimmy Dale Surf Trio and It’s Him Or Me.

picture of Pieter Dedoncker

Photography, already present in childhood, resurfaced in 2018 when a move to Italy coincided with the gift of a Nikon D5300. When the pandemic halted life on stage, the camera became my focus: I deepened my practice through workshops and private study in analog photography and printmaking, and eventually enrolled at Sint-Lukas Academy in Brussels…this time as a student, in the building where I’d once taught. A move to California in 2023 opened further possibilities: continued artistic exploration through The Abstract Art Collective in Santa Barbara, and a headshot photography practice that grew out of documenting life and people on tour.

My work has appeared in group exhibitions, was published in an edition for Jose Montealegre’s show at Klosterruine Berlin, and was the subject of a solo exhibition at Sint-Lukas Academy Brussels following a research pitch on Black Marble for De Donkere Kamer.

My inspiration comes from moving through the world, in and out of different narratives, often at the margins of the script. I’m drawn to the stories that shape the realities people live in, yet find solace in the physical world’s enigmatic chaos, visible through the traces of vast cosmic forces. That duality is what drives me. Photography, as a representational medium, lets me gather visual clues like empirical data, revealing the relativity of any single point of view and inviting contemplation of what we take to be mainstream reality. The drums, in turn, let me unify these opposites, shaping them into a story built on continuous flow.


Exhibitions

2025

October 18 – 26 ++ Florence Biennial, Art Comes Before, Firenze (IT) – Group Show

May 1 – 30 ++ Spring Show, AAC Exhibition, Voice Gallery Santa Barbara, CA (USA) – Group Show

2024

November 23 ++ Ready To Hang, Community Arts Workshop, Santa Barbara, CA (USA) – Group Show

November 1 – 30 ++ Thresholds, AAC Exhibition, Voice Gallery Santa Barbara, CA (USA) – Group Show

May 1 – 30 ++ Surviving to Thriving, AAC Exhibition, Voice Gallery Santa Barbara, CA (USA) – Group Show

2023

November 18 ++ Community Arts Workshop, Santa Barbara, CA (USA) – Ready To Hang , Group Show

2022

March 8 – 11 ++ Sint-Lukas Academy, Brussels (BE) – Noir Obscur, Solo Show 

October 15 – 23 ++ MArteLive Biennial, Rome (IT) – Group Show

2021

June 10 ++ Riposo @ Villa Schifanoia, Fiesole (IT) – Group Show

July 1 – 6 ++ Chania International Photo Festival, Chania (GR) – Group Show

July 5 – 11 ++ Prospettiva Serre, Firenze (IT) – Group Show

19 August – 19 September ++ Klosterruine, Berlin (DE) – Works featured in Vivero Enredado by José Montealegre.

2020

Passepartout Photo Prize Rome – Online Gallery

Publications

2023

Calendar 2024 – Edition of 50 – Self published

2022

Calendar 2023 – Edition of 50 – Self published riso print

2021

Calendar 2022 – Edition linked to Vivero Enredado exhibition by José Montealegre and published by BOM DIA BOA TARDE BOA NOITE.