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Flor Linckens
The beginning of the end of the beginning
“If you are depressed, you are living in the past.
If you are anxious, you are living in the future.
If you are at peace, you are living in the present.”
If you are anxious, you are living in the future.
If you are at peace, you are living in the present.”
This anonymous quote, often incorrectly attributed to the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, may be a bit ‘armchair psychologist’, but it also hits a certain core truth. But what if the future is more unclear than ever and every day becomes more and more like the one before, in an enduring ground hog day that’s been going on for a year now? At the moment, we seem to be marking a corona anniversary every single week (the first infection, the first death, the first press conference), making it seem like we are actively reliving 2020. For GalleryViewer, I put together a collection in which I try to capture that collective feeling: works of art in which beginnings and ends seem to coincide, or in which the view of the road ahead is obstructed.
0 Media items ᛫ 9 Available artworks
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he ultimate symbol for this state of repetition is of course the circle. At the same time, the title of this artwork by D.D. Trans (“Serpent") also reminds me of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's famous drawing in Le Petit Prince, in which adults are only able to see a hat, where children see an elephant swallowed by a snake. Perhaps the answer lies in allowing more room for a sense of wonder.
Belgian artist D.D. Trans transforms everyday objects with minimal adjustments, while removing them from their original context. Consider, for example, a bottle of hair spray with the addition of two snails. Because he tends to use well-known objects, his works evoke a certain recognition, yet his bizarre compositions also actively mislead you.
(Represented by: Galerie Ramakers. Guest artist: De Wael 15, Geukens & De Vil)
Belgian artist D.D. Trans transforms everyday objects with minimal adjustments, while removing them from their original context. Consider, for example, a bottle of hair spray with the addition of two snails. Because he tends to use well-known objects, his works evoke a certain recognition, yet his bizarre compositions also actively mislead you.
(Represented by: Galerie Ramakers. Guest artist: De Wael 15, Geukens & De Vil)
2 Media items ᛫ 6 Available artworks
4 Shows ᛫ 3 Highlights ᛫ 2 Recommendations
The ultimate symbol for this state of repetition is of course the circle. At the same time, the title of this artwork by D.D. Trans (“Serpent") also reminds me of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's famous drawing in Le Petit Prince, in which adults are only able to see a hat, where children see an elephant swallowed by a snake. Perhaps the answer lies in allowing more room for a sense of wonder.
Belgian artist D.D. Trans transforms everyday objects with minimal adjustments, while removing them from their original context. Consider, for example, a bottle of hair spray with the addition of two snails. Because he tends to use well-known objects, his works evoke a certain recognition, yet his bizarre compositions also actively mislead you.
(Represented by: Upstream Gallery)
Belgian artist D.D. Trans transforms everyday objects with minimal adjustments, while removing them from their original context. Consider, for example, a bottle of hair spray with the addition of two snails. Because he tends to use well-known objects, his works evoke a certain recognition, yet his bizarre compositions also actively mislead you.
(Represented by: Upstream Gallery)
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In his work, German artist Thomas Rentmeister is often looking for “the point where the sweet, the beautiful, suddenly turns into disgust, the repressed and the inappropriate”. This is beautifully and humorously visualised in one of his installations in which a shopping cart is buried under an immense mountain of sugar. Rentmeister often uses everyday objects for his installations: from paper tissues and cotton buds to refrigerators. For me, this work currently symbolises the paradox that every day is progressively looking more like the day before. And the following day.
(Represented by: Ellen de Bruijne Projects)
(Represented by: Ellen de Bruijne Projects)
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But, taking a step back: the notions of beginnings and endings are quite subjective and context dependent in themselves. British artist Perry Roberts describes himself as “an artist who stops where painters are usually expected to begin, leaving us with surfaces for reflection.” Many of his paintings are deliberately "non finito", a Renaissance term in which works are left unfinished. He is inspired by modernists such as Ad Reinhardt and Donald Judd, but at the same time, he breaks with the strict rules of the minimalists. Roberts is also concerned with the ways in which people interact with art in public. In May 2021, for example, he will provide a weekly online masterclass for Antwerp Art on art in the public space, alongside curator Sam Watson. In it, he discusses, among other things, the ways in which "a new generation of artists have rejected the monumental scale and mass appeal of conventional public sculpture, instead favouring unconventional forms that disrupt, rather than embellish a particular location." This neon work, that seems to go against the grain in a deliberately manner, fits well with that in my opinion.
(Represented by: Gallery Sofie Van de Velde)
(Represented by: Gallery Sofie Van de Velde)
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In this impossibly two-dimensional work by Danish photographer Theis Wendt, the teak frame merges seamlessly into the photo, resulting in a seemingly infinite perspective. Wendt works a lot with sculpture and installation and manages to translate these forms into a single plane medium, by means of a Droste effect (just think of a lift with mirrors). Wendt manipulates and repeats the image, with the frame serving as the photographic starting point. It makes it difficult for your eyes to distinguish the real wood and its digital reproduction. At the same time, he seems to suggest a space behind the work, which is just hidden from view. Wendt shows us an effective illusion that may offer us a certain degree of resignation: the future often fails to be foreseable as well.
(Represented by: CINNNAMON)
(Represented by: CINNNAMON)