Wat Is/ Wat Zou Kunnen
Armando Andrade Tudela, Virginie Bailly, Koenraad Dedobbeleer, Francis Denys, Manuel Depoorter, Marjolijn Dijkman, Pieter Dobbelsteen, Kristof Van Gestel, Frank Koolen, Lars Kwakkenbos, Asier Mendizabal, Jens Nippert, Martijn Olie, Falke Pisano, Boris Rebetez, Joe Scanlan, Marien Schouten, Maud Vandeveire, Reinaart Vanhoe, Dirk ZoeteKristof van Gestel has realized a group exhibition that takes his own artistic interests and his affinity with the work of artist colleagues as a starting point. Our belief in a (better) future – both at global and individual level – keeps us going.
However, the stories that we tell ourselves in this context continually conflict with the reality of our situation. There is a gap between ‘what could be’ and ‘what is’, and individuals continually have to learn to deal with this rift – the basis of both desire and frustration. What are the options, what are the limitations, and how do you strike a balance between the two. Which choices - intuitive/spontaneous or well-considered/conceived – does the artist take as the basis of a work, how does he create his own personal vocabulary, how does he use imagery to express an attitude?
Van Gestel is interested in artists that approach their environment and their own work with a kind of stubbornness: ‘builders’ who create idiosyncratic systems, which they place opposite complex reality. Artists that admit a form of reasoned intuition in their work and occasionally allow ‘the thing’ to take things over.