Les collections

Manuela Klerkx

Looking at art without prejudice

I often find myself looking at art with all sorts of biases. Conditioned by what I have heard or know (or think I know), the way it hangs or stands, the place it hangs, all kinds of factors that prevent me from looking at the work of art itself with an open mind. I am looking at a work that hangs or stands right in front of me in all its innocence and ignorance, but not in an uninhibited way. The work of art is actually already one step behind. What if I force myself to look at a work of art with a neutral look, unhindered by any prior knowledge or opinions? Will I succeed? I'm going to try it for this collection. I'm going to try to look at and describe the works by what I see - and feel - but without passing judgment. So I limit myself to the simple act of merely looking and then noticing what I feel. Okay, there will be thoughts and questions whirling up, but like a meditation practice, I will "look" at them without doing nothing with them. I let them pass by without attaching any importance to them. After all, they don't matter. What matters is the simple experience of looking and the sensation it produces in me. Nothing else. A perfect exercise to once again become aware of how often we actually look with the ears or with the eyes of someone else. Now I concentrate purely and solely on the relationship between me and the artwork. And that is difficult enough. Just as it is hard enough to sit alone with yourself, close your eyes and look inward.

Les Monseigneurs

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Thomas Renwart (1995), also known as Les Monseigneurs, makes textile works: carpets, grand foulards (decorative cloth that is placed over furniture), bedspreads and plaids in various colours. The large tissues consist of flowers, plants (grains and corn), butterflies and flies. Sometimes they are supplemented with French texts such as "Comme si de rien n'était" and "Ne m'oubliez pas svp". The works are very fine and woven using different techniques and radiate a feeling of wealth and luxury. One could call them Baroque in a contemporary way because of the abundance of colour, shapes and materials. Suddenly a chair, a vase or a geometric pattern popping up. They hang or lie - sometimes partially below and above each other - and determine the atmosphere of the room through their large dimensions and appearance. They are unique works of art that define the space as a painting on the wall, as a carpet on the floor or as a bedspread. An ode to nature and natural materials. As I look at it, I enjoy the warm beauty emanating from it and I realize how nice it is to feel surrounded by fabrics that are also art. Just turn the bedspread or the carpet over et voilà, the signature and date written in pencil by Les Monseigneurs making the object exclusive.

(Bruthaus Gallery)

Siegfried Woldhek

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We all know her: Angela Merkel. The clergyman’s daughter from the former GDR who grew into - we can say – Europe’s sole stateswoman. A politician on a mission. You don't have to agree with her, but she commands respect: through her drive and idealism. When she says "Wir schaffen das" she also means "Wir schaffen das" and takes the consequences of her choices, at least as far as possible. No backtracking or backroom politics as far as she is concerned. An inconspicuous appearance but of great size. And that's exactly how "Angie" - as she is called by her fans - is portrayed by Siegfried Wolhek. The simplicity of the portrait in which she - hands together, gaze downwards - seems to prepare for a speech in which she has to stand up for the European Union, the refugees or other matters that matter to her, radiates from the canvas. Not hindered by jewelry or striking clothing, without context or meaningful details, Merkel is portrayed as the person she is: an 'ordinary' woman on the outside who stands out for her attitude, literally and figuratively. The worried, inward look that illustrates her inner struggle and fighting spirit together with the flawlessly folded together what she stands for: preserving the European Union. The painting is in fact a modest portrait of a supplication.

(Galerie Lieve Hemel)

Alain Biltereyst

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The panels on Alain Biltereyst’s (1969) screen prints are always small. Usually, they measure no more than 23 x 17.4 cm. The design language is graphic. Painted layer upon layer, often in blue and ochre tones on a somewhat greyish background. Biltereyst stacks geometric and angular shapes on top of each other, as if they were fragments of letters or logos, or positions them next to each other, creating a certain rhythm. Every painting is different. You sense that the abstract forms originate from something that exists in reality. After all, they do not resemble mental constructions, rather they are abstractions of existing visual language. Sometimes you see trucks driving by with large logos. Biltereyst's works resemble this, but without the original meaning, which after all has been lost. But the urban life of transport and commerce is the basis for these panels, which therefore also have their roots in Pop Art. However small they are, these industrial-looking, hand-painted panels exude an art-historical yet contemporary atmosphere.

(Baronian Xippas)

Don't Buy This Piece, Your Place Is Not Nice Enough

Tom Volkaert

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Tom Volkaert’s (1989) occasionally rusty and at times glazed ceramic sculptures seem to have been excavated by him and displayed to the public without having been cleaned or restored. Something is what it is and just do it with it, he seems to be saying. The objects sometimes seem to refer to statues from prehistoric times or the Roman era, at other times to extraterrestrial beings or elements from the Flintstones, but one thing is certain: you have never seen anything like it because the shapes are too capricious and the combinations of techniques and materials are too uncommon. The way Volkaert groups these images is a work of art in itself. The industrial character of the cement pedestals he finds at DIY stores carry indefinable objects or "beings", thus lending them a more dramatic character. What is with that clock that returns every now and then. Where does it come from? What does the artist want with it? It seems as if the element of time has had no effect on these art objects. They are timeless, seem to have originated somewhere. Yet, you feel that there is a master mind behind these monsters, gods and goddesses that refer to an - at times dystopian - world before or after humanity. It's a strange world, isn't it?

(Everyday Gallery)

Patrizio Di Massimo

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"Heels on Me" is an exciting title for a painting in prudish times like these. Italian artist Patrizio Di Massimo (1983), who lives and works in London, depicted man on all fours, scantily clad in just a shirt and fuchsia-coloured socks. His derriere high in the air. His head is absent. A shoe sole rests on the bottom of his back and the stiletto heel of the mistress's lace-up boot, complete with black glove and whip (?), rests on his right buttock. She also has no head. The scene takes place on a granite or linoleum tile floor set against a backdrop of a green and gold, French lilly-like wallpaper. All kinds of suggestions are made, but apart from the position of both persons, there is nothing to be seen. The environment could be a boudoir as well as a hotel or living room, but does it even matter? A painting about power and oppression, sexuality and fantasy in which the dominated, as the title implies, is the artist himself. Still a nice example of a self-portrait. Headless (so it could actually be anyone) and not devoid of any self-mockery. A classically painted work of art with a contemporary feel because the depiction is so stylized and stripped of insignificant details.

(rodolphe janssen)