JAN DE MAESSCHALCK – DOMESTICATED
2016-01-18Two years ago, when De Maesschalck’s parental house was cleared out, the artist discovered in the attic a stack of old newspaper cartoon sections he used to read as a child. They ended up in his studio and when he started looking through them in the spring of 2015, he noticed how certain images had ingrained themselves into his memory. Also, it appeared to him that the patina of the fragile paper would serve as an ideal base tone for skin colour. The papers became the carriers for a new series in which the printed images, like tattoos, shimmer through a number of intriguing gazes. He reads the paper, the printed image, and eliminates and creates. With accurate speed he paints portraits with diluted acrylic paint. The fictional characters are lost in thought or hint at, whether consciously or not, associations with that which is visible to them but which nonetheless remains hidden from us. As always, De Maesschalck manages to stimulate our imagination. The domestic origins of this new series already largely explain the emotional charge of the title which nonetheless hides another meaning as well. When, after a long time, an animal, plant or human being adapts to its environment, this is referred to as domesticated or tamed behaviour. This also applies to the social adaptation of the human being.
Opposite – Sofa, 2015
Exhibition runs through to February 28th, 2016
Zeno X Gallery
Godtsstraat 15
2140 Antwerp
Belgium
