13 december 2022, Flor Linckens
Three artists who make us look at the world differently
galerie EL in Welle — located between Brussels and Ghent — is currently showing a group exhibition with work by three artists: Greet Billet, Arash Fakhim and Cléo Totti (until 18 December). Although their practices and artworks vary quite a bit, they have one thing in common: they make us look at the world with fresh eyes.
In her almost scientific practice, Greet Billet investigates the relationship between the analog and digital ways in which colours are shown. She also looks at human perception of colours and observes that perceiving colour (and therefore: light) is not as objective as is often thought — which immediately makes colour a much more elusive and immaterial phenomenon. Billet tries to bring images back to their most elementary form and arrived at the binary code, after which she transfers the images to another medium. This often results in site-specific works. The artist is fascinated by the transition of colours: from analogue to digital (and vice versa). Her use of mirrors refers to the work of the influential Italian writer Umberto Eco, who argued that a mirror cannot interpret anything on its own, it can only reflect objectively: a fleeting look-alike is created that ceases to exist as soon as the main object or main character is removed. The materials that Billet uses often have a (semi-)reflective surface and tend to be industrially manufactured. As a viewer, it is therefore almost impossible not to relate to it personally.
Dutch artist Arash Fakhim is interested in the ways in which different materials can be connected to each other, but also the ideas and unwritten rules behind that: why do people — sometimes without even actively thinking about — choose certain materials? What (codified) visual language lies behind that? Fakhim investigates how unpredictable (but carefully selected) materials and methods can lead to unconventional mixed-media “paintings", using surprising textures and compositions. He is particularly interested in the precise moment at which the meaning of an object changes, when it is given a new context. The action is important here, but he also leaves room for chance and experiment. Fakhim: “The materials I choose are often fragile or brittle; malleable materials that I can manufacture and form to my own taste. Before people learn to speak, we see first. And then we link the words to the things we see. While, when you make an image, you try to see the thing as it ís once again, without directly linking words to it. And that image can evoke a certain recognition that you don't know the word for yet.” In 2022, Fakhim started a residency program in Mexico City.
Cléo Totti's practice is characterised by a multidisciplinary approach and varies from sculptures and 'paintings' to performances. The Belgian artist uses a multitude of materials for that: one of the works in the exhibition in galerie EL consists of a digital print on PVC, plastic, synthetic hair and a necklace. Totti is interested in a hybrid universe in which the boundaries between the organic and the synthetic overlap. A recurring theme is the human body in a hybrid form, often in a fragmented or transformed state. Her practice is inspired by the essay 'A Cyborg Manifesto' (1985) by the American professor Donna Haraway, who argued for more fluid boundaries between man and animal and man and machine and a critical look at the imposed limitations of gender, feminism and politics and the societal codes and norms that flow from them. Totti's work defies being limited to a neat box or category.
