le plat pays

le plat pays
Elke Boon, Dirk Braeckman, Leo Copers,
Panamarenko, Honoré d'O, Carlo Mistiaen


The Ecole Supérieure d'Art of Perpignan presents a selection of Flemish artists (after Switzerland and Holland) as part of a series of "monographic" exhibitions focussing on the contemporary art produced in one precise region or country. Once again the choice that has been made is eclectic, pretending to confront our public with a wide panorama of creations "made in Flanders". In the selection one can detect emblematic names of well-known artists: Panamarenko, Leo Copers ... who accepted the confrontation with young, emerging talents like Carlo Mistiaen or Elke Boon. Honoré d'O and Dirk Braeckman belong to the generation on the intersection, but they both have a solid international career.

Maybe we could split the artists up in two groups: A first one (Honoré d'O, Leo Copers, Panamarenko and Carlo Mistiaen) - where we detect a strong influence of the surrealist spirit, full of references to litterature; close to poetry. It is also clear that all these artists decided to occupy an "einzelgangerposition" in the artworld.

Panamarenko is the enlighted inventor - like Leonardo da Vinci - who fabricates revolutionary and impossible machines. Leo Copers is the visual poet, who constructs three-dimensional paintings that remember us of the work of René Magritte. Like him, Carlo Mistiaen takes this Belgian heritage (Broodthaers) where literature and visual arts are always close, as a starting-point. Also Honoré d'O is born in the country of "Professor Sunflower" and takes the public with him on experimental trips. Elke Boon and Dirk Braeckman both work with photography and video. Braeckman creates anonymous landscapes in black and white, places that almost don't exist, and it is rare to detect a human presence on his pictures. Elke Boon shoots short personal documentaries. But always she manages to capture the personal, private side of the people that pose for her. Often the thin bodies of her "girls" and "boys" show scarves, traces of self-mutilation, symbols of a fragile generation, that tries to find its force by confronting the reality of life.

With the support of the Cultural Ministry of Flanders, Belgian Consulate, Gallery Ronny Van de Velde, Interbrew.

Ausstellungsdauer: 17.1. - 6.3.2002
Oeffnungszeiten: Di-Sa 10 - 12 Uhr, 14 - 19 Uhr

Exhibition's space: Halle au Poisson, place des Poilus;
Vitrine: Place du Pont d'en vestit, Perpignan, France.

école supérieure d'art de Perpignan
3, rue Foch
F-66000 Perpignan

Telefon +33 4 68 66 31 84
Fax +33 4 68 35 68 51
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