Josilda de Conceicao Gallery is pleased to present our new show ‘Nice and Slowly’, opening Saturday, May 16th. We will present the works of three young artists: Bernadus Baldus, Jean-Philippe Paumier and Jelle Van Houten. While at times coming from very different approaches, all three artists have diverse practices, with their research driving the outcome.
In his installations, Bernardus Baldus appeals to the cold and often impersonal aesthetic of the ‘corporate culture’ which has been developing since the 1980s. Baldus therefore constructs his installations in a tight, cool and distant way, emphasising the works impersonal character. He uses every day, industrialised materials (such as plastic and glass) that refer to consumerism, lifestyle, ‘loft living’, health culture, motivational speech and gentrification. His works are, as it were, pure and conceptualized sets of contemporary, theatrical and hysterically runaway attempts at cultural identity formation by the business community.
Exploring similar themes to Baldus, Paumier’s practice is an object-based questioning of mass production and consumerism. His body of work primarily consists of sculptures and installations, referring to Marcel Duchamp’s concept of the ‘ready-made’. He uses common objects found within our consumer society, and by distancing the object from its original purpose they act as a counterweight, emphasising their hidden aesthetic and conceptual potential. By distancing oneself from its practical aspect, one could possibly be more receptive to its poetical charge and subtle eloquence. His approach is marked by a certain form of lightness.
Markedly different, Van Houten explores the forgotten or seemingly less urgent issues in his daily landscape. New surroundings and situations are quickly examined, accepted and ordered by our brain. This helps us adapt to our changing landscape, which in turn makes us efficient beings. Delving into physical and historical research, his painting and sculptural work is guided by the coincidences and accidents occurring in the working process. In his practice, these accidents are seen as decisive moments that become the controlling factor in the work. In his video and performative works, Jelle explores the idea and function of being an individual in settings where cultural remains abide together with the pioneering nature. Creating an environment where neither men nor nature seems to have a function. Working in this way he aims for a tension in the works and let them become guidelines in his questions about the borders of balance, harmony and sanity.