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Flor Linckens
Melancholy art as a cure against loneliness
Everyone is constantly confronted with the perfect picture: in movies, TV series, commercials, your Instagram feed. Since most people only show their highlight reel, we can sometimes get the feeling that we are the only ones who are having a hard time. Because we're dealing with a sick relative or an ongoing argument. The Swiss-British philosopher Alain de Botton argues that art can help to combat this feeling of loneliness: not with happy, hopeful images, but rather with sorrowful images that make us feel that we are not alone.
Alain de Botton: “One thing art can do is reassure us of the normality of pain. Some of the world’s greatest works of art have been loved for their capacity to make the pain that’s inside all of us publicly visible and available. Sombre works of art don’t have to depress us. Rather, they can give us the welcome feeling that pain is part of the human condition. Art fights the false optimism of commercial society. It’s there to remind us with dignity that every good life has extraordinary amounts of confusion, suffering, loneliness and distress within it. And that therefore, we should never aggravate sadness, by feeling we must be freakish, simply for experiencing it quite a lot.”
In this collection, five works of art are highlighted that evoke a certain recognition.
Alain de Botton: “One thing art can do is reassure us of the normality of pain. Some of the world’s greatest works of art have been loved for their capacity to make the pain that’s inside all of us publicly visible and available. Sombre works of art don’t have to depress us. Rather, they can give us the welcome feeling that pain is part of the human condition. Art fights the false optimism of commercial society. It’s there to remind us with dignity that every good life has extraordinary amounts of confusion, suffering, loneliness and distress within it. And that therefore, we should never aggravate sadness, by feeling we must be freakish, simply for experiencing it quite a lot.”
In this collection, five works of art are highlighted that evoke a certain recognition.
0 Éléments multimédias ᛫ 6 Oeuvres disponibles
1 Spectacles ᛫ 0 Points forts ᛫ 0 Recommandations
Marc Bauer
The Swiss artist Marc Bauer worked exclusively in black and white before 2019. But despite the addition of warm colours in his practice, this paintings feels no less cold and lonely. Perhaps that feeling is enhanced in the unnaturalness of the colours or the fact that his characters often don't have a face. Bauer himself states that the painting process helps him to better understand the world around him, in all its complexity.
(Represented by KETELEER GALLERY)
The Swiss artist Marc Bauer worked exclusively in black and white before 2019. But despite the addition of warm colours in his practice, this paintings feels no less cold and lonely. Perhaps that feeling is enhanced in the unnaturalness of the colours or the fact that his characters often don't have a face. Bauer himself states that the painting process helps him to better understand the world around him, in all its complexity.
(Represented by KETELEER GALLERY)
0 Éléments multimédias ᛫ 28 Oeuvres disponibles
3 Spectacles ᛫ 0 Points forts ᛫ 0 Recommandations
Lenghi Teng
Lenghi Teng: "A traditional, competitive and strict upbringing is typical in Chinese culture. A lot is expected of the Chinese youth and parents compare their children with others, stimulating them to be the best. Being raised in this culture, it is barely or not usual to show your feelings or talk about it. This would make you look weak and seems like losing control. The youth lead a double life, hiding the real me behind masks. Grown up this way, it is very recognizable to me.”
(Represented by Contour Gallery)
Lenghi Teng: "A traditional, competitive and strict upbringing is typical in Chinese culture. A lot is expected of the Chinese youth and parents compare their children with others, stimulating them to be the best. Being raised in this culture, it is barely or not usual to show your feelings or talk about it. This would make you look weak and seems like losing control. The youth lead a double life, hiding the real me behind masks. Grown up this way, it is very recognizable to me.”
(Represented by Contour Gallery)
6 Éléments multimédias ᛫ 38 Oeuvres disponibles
8 Spectacles ᛫ 0 Points forts ᛫ 0 Recommandations
Jonat Deelstra
The Dutch artist Jonat Deelstra often plays with melancholy subjects, which he often imbues with a certain poetic charge. For example, Deelstra previously made a series with the telling title 'Funeral Center The North Sea', about how burying people at sea can ensure that new life forms can settle here, including coral and anemones. The use of colour in this painting is reminiscent of the work of two other painters who used blue to touch on a deep sadness: Hopper and Picasso.
(Represented by GoMulan Gallery)
The Dutch artist Jonat Deelstra often plays with melancholy subjects, which he often imbues with a certain poetic charge. For example, Deelstra previously made a series with the telling title 'Funeral Center The North Sea', about how burying people at sea can ensure that new life forms can settle here, including coral and anemones. The use of colour in this painting is reminiscent of the work of two other painters who used blue to touch on a deep sadness: Hopper and Picasso.
(Represented by GoMulan Gallery)