Attention, je hebt gelijk je bent een dwaas!
By
Raquelle Verheyen, Fanny Wellens, Ella Schöning
Raquelle Verheyen -
My practice consists of readymade and found objects, that I turn into assemblages and installations. With unexpected objects, different techniques and personal details I create a variable work.
I came to realize that I'm creating something realistic but also something that’s coming from the past, a touch of life experience. Something existing but also imagined. A memory or a dream and reality or fiction. From childhood pictures to unpleasant and even frightening pictures, simple cardboard boxes with beer crates or just a blowable yoga ball with a binder. I integrate my work with details of my life and with a touch of imagination. I’m constantly doing research of researching my work.
The inspiration comes partly because of the many objects or trash in the streets; a broken baby stroller, an office chair, traffic signs, containers, etc. The ideas that are going on in my head, change everyday. I work with material from our day-to-day life that I turn into an industrial assemblage, an enigmatic and interactive installation. I create a construction, an accumulation of the collected objects or an image with personal details.
When I see an interesting object or something I feel a connection to, somewhere on the streets, I take it right away. In the meantime, I think about what I want to do with it. At these moments, I am very visual. I look at the objects and they have the required properties; color, shape, texture, etc. Sometimes I’m not going to need that object in the end but most of the time it does add value.
I keep on trying different setups and see which objects connects well with each other. By placing the right objects together, it forms an intentional, aesthetic quality. Each object or material has its own power in my work. I combine it with different elements; digital elements like a tv screen or a Nintendo screen within a video work. It’s layered digital and analog. I'm not focussed on just one medium or concept, I incorporate language, video and sound into my work. The little texts in my work are often written wordplays or inspired by quick edits.
I want the imagination of the viewer to come organically. That’s why I make something riddle and it will develop curiosity, humor and absurdism.
Fanny Wellens -
Through ceramics, latex and candle wax, I depict the filth around me. My artistic process throughout the year has emerged from lucky accidents occurrences while experimenting with materials. Disgust was one of the few emotions I found challenging to comprehend, but it intrigued me precisely for that reason. I actively seek out filth in my life, which becomes my greatest source of inspiration in my artistic practice.
During my time working in a food factory, one of my tasks was cleaning larvae off food packages. These larvae were confined in boxes of 500 packages, incubating for weeks in an environment of 30 °C, lying in a thick layer of their own fluids and food remnants. I stood there numerous times and they had no effect on me as I never felt the urge to vomit due to their smell or sight. It intrigued me more than I could comprehend. This experience served as a catalyst for the formation of my sculptural design.
My work glorifies the everyday larvae, transforming them from mere larvae into functional objects. I chose larvae because they bear associations with disgust, such as food contamination, hygiene, lower-order creatures like pests, and symbols of death and decay.
I enhance the glorification of this filth through the use of color, material selection and the context in which I place my larvae. They evolve into ceramic sculptures that progressively resemble less of larvae and adopt everyday functions, transcending their role as dirty objects. Viewers shift their focus towards the glorification, forgetting the connotations of filth. The larvae are situated in an artificial world, surrounded by latex vomit and discarded exoskeletons.
My art invites a surprising reevaluation of disgust and offers a thought-provoking reflection on the intricate relationship between aversion and glorification in our human experience.
Ella Schöning -
Ella Schöning’s work is a celebration of the absurd and a powerful platform for activism. With a keen fascination for the quirky and bizarre aspects of life, she embarks on a creative journey that melds the absurd with poignant feminist statements. Her artistic practice includes video, sculptures, drawings, and paintings, each medium serving as a unique lens through which she explores her world.
