** Edition of 200. Artist book + CD ** n the year 2018 visual artist Ken Verhoeven presented his Friendship Paintings, a collection best described as “deconstructed designs for friendship bracelets”, at Trampoline gallery in Antwerp. The subject: the friendship bracelet. A wristband infused with meaningful (?) symbols. Symbols crafted thread after thread. One pulls a string, and … friendship happens. Or … friendship is being manipulated by symbolism. Not unlike a fetish. Ken Verhoeven upcycled this vulgar object and brought it inside the art gallery. Where he showed not only the designs, but also the schematics for how to craft each bracelet. Exposing the crystals of friendship. While painting these bracelets directly on the white gallery walls, the law of physics came into play. Colours became softer when interfering. Or became stronger, or changed. How does an image evolve? How does one colour manipulates the other? It is a recurring storyline in Ken Verhoeven’s work. His endless imagination is constantly at play with existing forms. In the words of gallerist Stella Lohaus “he constantly interprets curiosities that casually present themselves in the world around him.”