A VISION ON CONTEMPORARY ART 24.04 15 » 28.06 15
A PUBLIC COLLECTION STEPHAN BALLEUX
For the third consecutive year, the Atomium will be showcasing works by contemporary artists as part of the Art Brussels event. Artview is a focus rather than an exhibition, a meeting-point for art lovers, professionals and the general public. This year, Artview#3 is centered on the collection at the Musée d’Ixelles, presenting a selection of works by ten internationally known artists all based in Belgium. With sculptures, paintings, videos and photographs, it offers a varied overview of contemporary art in Belgium.
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(Bruxelles/Brussel - 1974) > ONE SECOND OF SILENCE, PART 04
An exhibition, a novel, an essay, Stephan Balleux gets his inspiration from everything that surrounds him. Juggling between disciplines, he is passionate about photolithography, video animation, plaster bas-reliefs and painting. In his art, he especially likes to create in series, declining his work in countless ways.
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(Rotterdam) - 2009 Ed. 4/5, video projection, no sound, 20’28’’
A video-maker, photographer, drawer and sculptor, the visual artist Edith Dekyndt probes the imperceptible links between facts and the way they are represented. The artist’s piercing eye highlights the ephemeral phenomena, invisible events and fleeting experiences that escape the common gaze, revealing them in a delicate and intimate aesthetic. ×
> HOLD EVERYTHING DEAR (RESUMPTION) 2015
This recent series from Stephan Balleux uses different supports (photolithography, video animation and plaster bas-relief) for one of the “pattern-images” of a painting entitled “Hold Everything Dear”, from which the title has been borrowed from the essay of John Berger about the Resistance. The series is a permanent work line for Stephan Balleux. ×
BERT DE BEUL (Gent – 1961)
Disconcerting in their simplicity, most of Bert De Beul’s nameless works show scenes from everyday life. He deliberately distances himself from these images, his main aim being that visitors will create their own stories.
02 > NO TITLE - 1993 Oil on canvas - 46 x 55 cm - acquired in 2011
Through a combination of realism and the purely pictorial, Bert De Beul highlights the contradictory connection between the weight of the reality surrounding us and its fleeting quality, as it is the case with painting. His predilection for simple subjects, executed in a sfumato mode tending towards abstraction, offers us a unique, timeless universe suffused with emotions. ×
EDITH DEKYNDT (Ieper – 1960)
Edith Dekyndt’s work is based on her meticulous observation of the world around us. Her presentations of nature and physical phenomena appear designed to reveal things that we do not perceive at first sight. Through videos, drawings, sculptures and photographs, her creations establish a link between art and science.
04 > 3 JUIN 2011 - 2011 Blue ballpoint pen on paper - 20 x 30 cm - acquired in 2012
An artist with a sensitive, intimate approach, with this work Edith Dekyndt offers visual evidence of an emotional state, as revealed by the automatic, patient marking made with a blue ballpoint pen on a fine sheet of paper. This may be a metaphor for time moving on, deterioration and fragility, as well as the aggressive, inevitable manner of time’s passing. ×
WIM DELVOYE (Wervik – 1965)
Wim Delvoye owes his success to a provocative piece of work : the “Cloaca” is a symbolic installation that reproduces the human digestive system and fecal matter. A visual artist by profession, he likes to mix religious references with Flemish traditions, particularly through his techniques.
05 > KISS 5 Photographs - cibachrome on aluminium - 100 x 125 cm - acquired in 2003
Wim Delvoye is undoubtedly one of the world’s best-known living Belgian artists. His famous work, “Cloaca”, is a re-creation of the human digestive system that produces fecal matter, which is then decanted into Plexiglass containers and sold as works of art. Provocative in his approach, he likes to mix the trivial with the sacred. With “Kiss”, he reduces the timeless theme of love to a medical and dental level, as we see the kiss of a couple via two X-rays of their skulls. ×
to physical and natural phenomena such as light, fog, colour and form, in order to disrupt boundaries and re-examine our perception of the space that surrounds us. ×
MICHEL FRANÇOIS (Sint-Truiden – 1956)
Michel François is a complete artist. With his videos, photos, sculptures and paintings his imaginative vision pushes the boundaries as he explores the fragility of the world, the impact of a gesture and the phenomenon of cause and effect.
XAVIER MARY (Liège – 1982)
Xavier Mary’s sculptures present a mixture of contradictions. Combining the old with the new, and the real with the unreal, he works with shapes and colours in an innovative, minimalist spirit.
06 > DOMESTIC - 2008 Mixed techniques (hanging structure, broken ceramic pieces, ropes) - 175 x 110 x 73.5
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(variable measurements) acquired in 2012
An internationally renowned visual artist, Michel François has developed a multidisciplinary, polymorphous body of work. Photographs, videos, installations, sculptures and drawings are treated separately or combined to create hybrid, unclassifiable works, undeniably rich in terms of both plasticity and concept. In the same tradition as “Souffles dans le verre”, the hanging piece “Domestic” captures the balancing point, poised between weight and weightlessness, the commonplace and the unusual, of a material which has been distorted in order to unsettle observers, inducing them to see a different world, or to see this world differently. ×
Mixed technique - painted metal units - 110 x 180 x 110 cm - acquired in 2009
Xavier Mary is one of the most active figures on Belgium’s contemporary art scene. In the wake of minimalism, he carries out radical experiments with form by making use of materials and objects from the modern industrial age, questioning the references and the objective criteria we apply when classifying an item as commonplace or, conversely, as a work of artistic merit. ×
JEAN-LUC MOERMAN (Bruxelles/Brussel – 1967)
GEERT GOIRIS (Bornem – 1971) Geert Goiris surrealist creations transport the spectator to a strange world. His photographs tell a story, his main themes centering on evolution, man’s exploitation of nature, and fiction.
07 > WHITEOUT 3
> MODERN INDUSTRIAL UNITS - CA. 2007
Internationally known for his abstract, offbeat works, Jean-Luc Moerman is inspired by graffiti, mangas, abstract painting and new technology. His work reflects his mastery of highly diverse artistic media; his creations are executed on a variety of supports and include famous photographs, which he transforms.
10 > CONNECTINGTHINGS - 2008
- 2008
Lambda print - ed. 4/5, 50 x 60 cm - acquired in 2011
Metal - 180 x 180 cm - acquired in 2008
In the manner of an explorer, Geert Goiris has created detailed photographic documentation of a world bordering on the surreal. A combination of plain objectivity and artistic extrapolation, Goiris work presents a strange, ambiguous universe imbued with great poetic power. ×
The work of Brussels-born Jean-Luc Moerman is multiform, expansive, and in a constant state of transformation. Drawing his inspiration from graffiti, American comics, Pop culture and the world of hip-hop music, Moerman has developed an abundant body of graphic work. He makes use of every kind of surface (traditional, interiors, everyday objects and so on) to create an effect of organic effervescence. ×
ANN VERONICA JANSSENS (Folkstone – 1956)
CINDY WRIGHT (Herentals – 1972)
Ann Veronica Janssens is a visual artist whose minimalist images tend to alter our conventional perceptions. Her work is multi-disciplinary, comprising installations, film projections and sculpture. Her creations are designed to convey emotion through a play of light and shapes.
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Sometimes described as morbid and intriguing, her photorealist works create a link between the real and the abstract.
11 > SNOWWHITE - 2009 Oil on canvas, 200 x 315 cm, acquired in 2009
> NO TITLE - 2001 Steel - diameter 79.5 cm - acquired in 2002
Through her installations, Ann Veronica Janssens creates subtle plays on sensation, perception and emotion. Her focus is on the ephemeral and the immaterial ; she brings a personal perspective
Cindy Wright explores the limitations of perception and of artifacts; situated midway between hyperrealism and abstraction, her work ultimately questions the status of the artistic object in this age of ubiquitous digital images. ×
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