Mai 36 Galerie is delighted to present new works by Belgian artist Koenraad Dedobbeleer.
Koenraad Dedobbeleer (*1975 in Halle, Belgium) creates sculptures, objects, in-situ installations and photographs teeming with associations, tongue-in-cheek commentaries and art historical references. The artist lives and works in Brussels and occasionally curates. His works have been shown internationally, including the Liverpool Biennal and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid in 2016, at the GAK Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst in Bremen in 2014 and in a major solo exhibition at the Lokremise arts centre, St. Gallen, in 2012. In 2009, Dedobbeleer received the Mies van der Rohe Award from the City of Krefeld.
Koenraad Dedobbeleer places the focus firmly on everyday objects, which he modifies and recontextualises. He does this by means of methods such as deconstruction and manipulation, so that the contextual shifts and transformations of these everyday objects and motifs prompt the viewer to question the essential quality of things and their existence within newly created frames of reference. This approach opens up new perspectives and potential for a variety of interpretations.
Dedobbeleer’s third solo exhibition at Mai 36 Galerie centres around a selection of 40 original photographic negatives in which the artist explores the techniques and processes of photography. Taken over a period of three years using an analog camera (Linhof Kardan Color 45S), the photographs are the product of a vintage mechanism that slows down the photographic process and changes the way the images are subsequently perceived. By removing the instantaneity in this way, a sense of detachment is achieved that allows us to develop our own perspective on the objects portrayed and lets us formulate a language by which to articulate our thoughts about what it is that has been reproduced here.
The artist describes the creation of the photographs as a three-dimensional task that involves extracting the object from reality by means of light and time, with the aid of chemical processes to make them visible.
Four sculptures are also presented. In the context of this exhibition, they may provide a commentary that opens up a dialogue between the object and the space.
On occasion of the exhibition, Mai 36 Galerie published an artist publication entitled The Sculptor's Workshop: Images Entertain Thought. The booklet, which also serves as invitation card, is the second instalment in a series of seven publications focusing on the thinking revolving around contemporary sculpture. Each installment elaborates on a specific "Sculptural Problematic".