22 january 2021, Flor Linckens
Functionality: optional. Humor: essential
Roeland Tweelinckxcreates the kind of art that you might accidentally pass by, without realising that you’ve missed something remarkable. And that is exactly where his strength lies. His first solo exhibition at Galerie Fontana can be seen online on GalleryViewer until January 30.
The Belgian artist Roeland Tweelinckx humorously plays with his environment in the form of site-specific installations. His work is rooted in art historical traditions such as Surrealism, Dadaism and Conceptual art. It may be reminiscent of the work of Duchamp, who took objects out of their original context and presented them a new context, in a new space. But in the past, Tweelinckx has also criticised the use of readymades in art. His works do not consist of found objects that are, in themselves, considered to be art. Rather, it consists of purposely designed trompe l'oeil installations; installations that simultaneously disturb and disharmonise, yet also create a new and unexpected balance. He uses combinations of everyday objects that, combined, seem to defy reason, logic and all laws of nature. In Tweelinckx's work, functionality becomes optional and humor essential.
The exhibition shows, for example, a surrealist radiator that evokes both cubism and a dynamic position mid-dance. His 'Composition with air vents' shows three ventilation grilles in an impossibly skewed and asymmetrical installation: an apparently ugly solution but at the same time immensely poetic. The Fanta in "The moment before" does not seem to care too much about the horizontal position of the bottle in which it is contained. In his installation "How soon is now" we also see how a round vase has apparently been given shape by a balloon pump. Or is it a fire extinguisher? And in the work "Nails are overrated", Tweelinckx shows a photo frame that is attached to the wall with bizarre amounts of yellow tape. The artist's unruly works have the potential to amaze, to confuse, to put things into perspective and maybe even to elicit a smile.
But it is perhaps more important to place his work in a time when we see so many images on a daily basis that we have learned to mainly scan information. Tweelinckx invites us to look at everyday objects, perhaps not even for the sake of the object itself, but for the sake of learning to consciously see again. To watch with intention. This may also be reflected in the title of the exhibition: “Business as usual, but how did I get here?'' In other words: we are more concerned with goals and destinations (go go go) without realising how we actually got there. At the same time, it is a reference to the ways in which we have actually normalised the bizarre situation surrounding the pandemic.
