Intriguing artist Stephan Balleux caught our eye with the exhibition ‘Sui Generis’. His dark and surreal work gets under your skin. Why? The paintings really seem to come alive. His combination of different media like photography and painting make you forget that what you see isn’t real.
For example one of the recurrent themes of Balleux’s work is an animalistic cloud that can take different shapes, sizes and colors. The imminent cloud seems to be a parasite, intruding your life, waiting for you in bed or literally hanging above your head. Several times Balleux portrays people whose face or leg look ‘infected’ with this parasite, giving the paintings an unheimlich feel. In other cases the figures try to interact with it or the shape is just present. The black monolith of Kubrick’s ‘2001: A space Odyssey’ comes to mind, always accompanying humans and influencing them in mysterious ways. All the paintings have an auratic feel to them: the sepia coloring, the iconic settings, the strange still lives, the glaring eyes. They all snatch us out of our surroundings and bring us to a different but parallel universe.
His newest work ‘spectrum’ is also very promising. This time Balleux experiments with yet another medium: architecture. He presents his art objects in a peculiar living room, making them stand out by surrounding them with familiar furniture. In this setting the art work lingers to be discovered. The room looks friendly enough but when you look closely the art gives a lugubrious feel to the living space. This dualistic outcome is also true for the ‘afterimage’ series where a woman is portrayed in lively and vibrant colors. But immediately you notice that her skin is absent and what’s underneath lays bare for the naked eye to see. In contrast with the bright coloring the paintings have a very dark feel to them. Is the artist trying to put us on the wrong track?
One thing’s for sure with Balleux’s work: things aren’t always what they seem!
© I Love Belgium
I LOVE BELGIUM
I LOVE BELGIUM
I LOVE BELGIUM
I LOVE BELGIUM
I LOVE BELGIUM
I LOVE BELGIUM
I LVOE BELGIUM
