Home Sweet Homeless

Six young artists, including myself present their works in the zwarte zaal, the exhibition space of KASK, the academy of fine arts in Ghent. They are all in their master course, in the fields of painting and installation. Because my fellow exhibitors are all from different countries, and don’t speak Dutch, I’ll write this review in English.

The premiss of the exhibition is the question whether you can see and feel the origin of the artist in his or her work or not. Does art have a context? Does it belong to a home? Before it touches all of us who look at it, must it first be immersed in the local colours, flavours, traditions and knowledge that the artist draws from his or her feeling for their country, their climate, their culture? Is Art only universal when it has first been profoundly touched by the local, the native environment in which the artist came of age? We are all studying in Belgium, so we are more or less foreigners. From that point of view the exhibition is presented under the title of Home Sweet Homeless. The artists come from Colombia, Iceland, Iran, Hungary, Norway and the Netherlands, the exhibition is a crossing point of cultures and visions. Marked by diversity and innovation both in the variety of disciplines, and in the choice of materials and references.

Even in this global society, you still can see the origin of the artist in the works, and the influences from their country. Not only in the approach, but also in their way of thinking. It is not per se necessarily for the understanding, but it is interesting to see the different works and their energies joining and confronting themselves. And because we have been working in the same environment the whole year, you can feel the different influences connecting to each other.

With works by Alejandra Hernández [CO], Fatime Molnár [HU], Johánna Kristbjörg Sigurdardottir [IS], Katja Ebbel Frederiksen [NO], Neema Ba [IR] and myself, Casper Verborg [NL].

Below an impression of the exhibition. It’s on show until monday 6th of May, from 13 till 18 pm daily.

Casper Verborg

Home Sweet Homeless – view

Alejandra Hernández

Alejandra Hernández – detail

Alejandra Hernández

Casper Verborg

Casper Verborg – detail

Casper Verborg

Casper Verborg + Neema Ba

Neema Ba – detail

Neema Ba + Jóhanna Kristbjörg Sigurdardottir

Jóhanna Kristbjörg Sigurdardottir

Fatime Molnár

Fatime Molnár – detail

Fatime Molnár

Katja Ebbel Frederiksen

This work needs some explanation. It’s a wall filled with stickers in different sizes. Impossible to capture on a photo, because of the delicate nuances in white. All together the stickers become a organic form, as if something is growing on the skin of the wall.