07 november 2023, Flor Linckens
Last chance: Dirk Slootmaekers' inquiry into the nature of reality
Until 12 November, galerie EL in Welle proudly hosts a solo exhibition featuring the exciting work of the Belgian artist Dirk Slootmaekers, who passed away far too soon in 2017. This exhibit offers a rare opportunity to immerse oneself in the repertoire of an artist who challenges us to think in terms of possibilities.
Initially trained as a biochemist, Slootmaekers' practice demonstrated a mastery of scientific analytical skills. He aspired to use his art to uncover the inaccuracies in our thinking. His text works, sculptures, sketches, and installations provoke thought. Slootmaekers' approach was rooted in the philosophy that 'things can also be different.' He looked anew at objects and words, typically confined to their function, and endowed them with new value and meaning. The artist was interested in their potential and sought first to discover their pure 'being' — often with a touch of humour and irony in the form of jokes and wordplay.
Slootmaekers earned a doctoral degree in Chemistry and pursued studies in painting, sculpture, and ceramics at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent much later. In the span of a few years, he created a substantial body of work which he compiled into three artist’s books in collaboration with Huis Hut publishing: ‘Things Made Visible’, ‘A World of Things’, and ‘A World of Men’. Slootmaekers himself described these books as manuals. He had a particular interest in contemporary art history, literature, and philosophy, drawing inspiration from minimalism and conceptual art. The artist passed away just days after these books were printed, at the young age of 55. Throughout his lifetime, he exhibited relatively infrequently, but in 2018, a year after his passing, the Biennale of Ideas paid tribute to his work. This biennale highlighted artworks where the artistic concept was paramount, and executability was not the foremost consideration.
