"O"

Stef Van Looveren

opening : June 1st 2018 | 7 - 11 pm
June 2nd - July 8th 2018

Stef Van Looveren (BE,1992) is an Antwerp based artist. He studied Fine Arts at Central Saint Martins, London and Sint-Lucas, Antwerp. He is the winner of the third edition of the STRT Schot award, an initiative of Studio Start vzw, awarding a prize to a graduate artist selected out of the two art school in Antwerp (St Lucas Unversity of Antwerp and KASKA)

Stef Van Looveren's practice translates itself into video installation, photo and collage. The installations are used, as an attempt to reflect and dismantle the performativity of our human behaviour, primarly within the notion of gender. Playfully mimicking our social conducts along with visual culture, his work moves towards a surreal gesture.

As Stef Van Looveren has always had an interest in questioning gender in relation to sexuality and identity it seemed only logical to evolve in his 3 sided art project which started more than 3 years ago. His solo show "O" at Barbé Urbain gallery will show the final and 3rd chapter of these works. 

Every chapter has it's own colour. The first one 'HIR', a gender-related term that can be interpreted as wide or as narrow as someone identifies hirself with. This is the green chapter. Stef Van Looveren translates different personalities in a fluid way. During this process he creates an environment to think about the transformative state of this construction.

In the second, blue chapter he brings these personalities together in an almost blue, paradisiacal sea. Here he also adds other persons to let them interact with each other.

The third and final chapter is the red one "O" which focuses on the body an sich. By adding or removing certain characteristics Van Looveren investigates the influence of these changes on all other aspects.

This makes the solo exhibition 'O' the final piece of the triptych which brings all the previous parts together. Green, blue and red or RGB, a combination of colours that is able to create any possible colour. This underlines the artificial construction of the arbitrary bounderies in our society and the associated reflected personality.

Selected past exhibitions:
2018
'O', Barbé Urbain gallery, Ghent, BE
Radical Hope, Hole of the fox, curated by Benny Van den Meulengracht-Vranckx, Antwerp,BE

2017
ETCETERA, S.M.A.K., Ghent,BE
Capara Showcase, Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerp,BE
En cours d'installation, Valerie Traan Gallery, Brussels,BE
Irrepressible, Front Studio, START SCHOT prize, Studio Start, Antwerp,BE
GAG/GAGGING, Tique Art Space, Antwerp,BE

2016
Open Studios, Maison Contraire, Antwerp,BE
I'd rather have a bottle in fron of me than a frontal lobotomy, DIY, Antwerp,BE
Nacht van de beeldende kunst, curated by Benny Van den Meulengracht-Vranckx, De Studio, Antwerp,BE
Please come to the show, Katleen Vinck, Antwerp,BE

2015
Graduation Show BA, curated by Geoffrey De Beer, St-Lucas, Antwerp,BE
'ONE HOUR', virtual intra muros

2014
CSM Open Studio, Central Saint Martins, London,GB
 

BARBÉ URBAIN gallery
Penitentenstraat 29 | 9000 Gent | Belgium
desk@barbe-urbain.com | +32.9.391.39.13
open from Thu. - Sun. 2 - 6pm | 7/7 by appointment