Archipel, a collaboration between BARBÉ (Ghent), FRED & FERRY (Antwerp) and Waldburger Wouters (Brussels), presents La Primavera, the first of four exhibitions with which these galleries introduce a joint program in the space in Otegem. This expo’s curation channels Vivaldi, and is inspired by the four seasons. Commencing with spring, La Primavera doesn’t include flutes imitating birds or barking violas, but announces a new beginning and an inspiring selection of works by Leyla Aydoslu, Willem Boel, Elen Braga, Maxime Brigou, Charlie De Voet, Matthias Dornfeld, Liesbeth Henderickx, Jean Katambayi Mukendi, and Joost Pauwaert.
The fragile installation Simultium (2012) by Jean Katambayi Mukendi (°1974) brings in sweet candy colours. The pastel shades stand in stark contrast with the chosen material: left-over cardboard, an Arte Povera version of the objet trouvé. Electric wires make their way through the cardboard tower, a construction the artist uses to reflect the search for solutions to current social issues in today’s Congo. Liesbeth Hendrickx (°1991) also uses material that can speak for itself. Her minimalist and poetic treatment of steel wire in Untitled 1 (entwined) and Untitled 2 (entwined) (2023) is reminiscent of the shapes that appear on the surface of a mountain stream.
Untitled (out of the horse series) (2022) by Matthias Dornfeld (°1960) introduces an animal at La Primavera. This artist opts for simple motifs that become funny when they are repeated over and over again. The main colour of this cheerful, yellow horse is mirrored in the dynamic burst of pigments in A new study for an end of the world (2023) by Joost Pauwaert (°1985). This image represents a performance of the same name that took place on a pond in Beernem on 14 August 2022. Small zinc boats explode, and origami aeroplanes are shot down by homemade cannons. The resulting image and this artist’s work process bring together inventiveness, the roars of artillery, and thunderstorms. During the opening of La Primavera, A new study for an end of the world 2.0 (2023) is on active display outdoors. The machine orchestrates a rampage of artificial thunder through gunpowder, smoke bombs, and light flashes. Once set up indoors, this 0.2 is part of the exhibition as a sculpture.
Another artist who builds machines himself is Willem Boel (°1983). This artist painstakingly puts together sculptures with a high level of post-punk using his collection of found objects. De Nieuwe Molens #22 (2020) is one of Boel’s “useless machines” – the object doesn’t produce anything, though by looking at it, it seems to suggest that it does. It looks as if it has been collecting rain for decades, outside in the cold, or has some kind of solar power going on. But it is in fact not moving anything but the viewer's unfolding associations. On the wall, there’s a three-dimensional drawing, Pare Feu #67 (2022), with which Boel retains as little as possible of the traditional support. The dripping of paint is left in the foreground.
The soft sculpture Bob (2022) by Elen Braga (°1984) has a high degree of cuddliness from afar. Once closer by – and if you manage to look beyond the cat – a chaotic iconography resembling an inferno unfolds. Is this purgatory? Do we see nymphs or monsters? Braga reflects on femininity and her religious upbringing, for which she reverts to Christian imagery and elements from both art history and pop culture. The work of Maxime Brigou (°1992) is also ambiguous. The series Coup d'oeil (2022) is a composition of plastic, polystyrene, polyurethane, oil paint, canvas, and plaster. Organic figures that look like living stones are hidden underneath a skin-like layer of frozen, misty dew. Seasonal Painting with greetings from Charlie De Voet (°1977) also arises from different layers of material. Just before a coat of paint has dried, the artist applies the next, resulting in a softly rippling surface.
The work of Leyla Aydoslu (°1987) is strikingly present at this exhibition. Aydoslu deconstructs architectural elements in order to adapt them to our human size. In search of a certain tension, she joins the pieces together to provoke a three-dimensional experience. 2019 XIX (2019) is mounted on the wall like a string of islands. Each fragment connects the next. Like an archipelago, this work forms an organic totality that looks very robust. But despite its surface suggesting hard and cold concrete, this construction of papier-mâché has more in common with a bird’s nest than with solidified gravel.
