Group exhibition, Layered Realities, Group Exhibition - Inspired by the work of Mario Schifano

Layered Realities
Group exhibition with works by Peter Buggenhout, Sadaharu Horio, Mario Schifano, and Angel Vergara.

When fiction mirrors reality to the extent that it becomes an interpreted portrayal of life, it can vividly convey the complexities of history that rational analysis may struggle to capture. The aesthetic in fiction serves as a conduit to the subconscious, imparting a nuanced understanding of historical causality that often eludes the grasp of reason. It is exactly this power that writers, cinematographers, and artists possess. In his most notorious paintings, the Italian post-modern pop artist Mario Schifano (1934-1998) utilised and mirrored elements of daily life in a growing capitalist and urban society by zooming in on them, decontextualising what the logos of Coca-Cola or Esso symbolised, thus creating a new reality. The universe Schifano created with paint and brush is fragmented, often flirting with the abstract. This is especially the case for the landscape paintings he made in the 1960s. With compositions that were often left half-finished, showing the bare paper or canvas underneath, there remains much left to be imagined. It shows the painting as just an interpretation of reality, rather than reality itself. The viewer is often given a clue through text, as is the case for “Mare” (1963), where the title (Italian for sea) is visible at the bottom of the work. Upon closer inspection, various elements emerge, such as a boat or thick sea foams created by crashing waves. The conscious and subconscious are layered into a complex web of possibilities.

The group exhibition, Layered Realities, features artworks alongside Schifano’s painting that similarly confront reality, peeling and adding layers to our understanding of the world. Upon entering, visitors immediately encounter a video installation by Belgian artist Angel Vergara (°1958). Arriving close to the screen, it’s possible to view colour changes and shifting pixels, while the details are impossible to decipher. Descending the stairs to watch the work with more distance, a better understanding of what’s happening begins to arise. For his video paintings, Vergara often departs from found archival or self-made footage. In “Cityscape” (2018), we see New York from different perspectives. On top, the artist paints, leaving traces, dripping, merging, and fading in an almost paradoxical attempt to capture the continuously moving image. It is precisely this integration of the moving image and the painting that is so essential. The artist’s direct interaction with the images, which he attempts to trace and follow, is a powerful reminder of how his intervention changes our reading of otherwise dry and objective archival footage. The evident storylines get erased, and linear timeless are fractured into new, mosaic realities. These types of video paintings became the core of two pivotal exhibitions in the artist’s career: FEUILLETON in 2011, where he represented Belgium at the Venice Biennale and the solo exhibition From Scene to Scene in 2017 at the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique.

The exhibition includes two additional works by Vergara. “Acts & Paintings: Antwerpen 11/8 – 16/8” (2017) is the result of different performances in the streets of Antwerp. Concealed by a white sheet, the artist takes on the alter-ego of Straatman (Dutch for “man of the street”), turning the immediate surroundings into his nomadic studio. The senses are physically diminished, yet mentally heightened. By taking his canvases beyond the confines of the studio's secure walls and exposing them to the world, the artist allows them to absorb the ever-changing environment. Vergara immerses himself in the outside world, giving the paintings a dynamic, sketch-like quality, capturing fragments of direct interactions between the artist concealed beneath his white sheet and the passersby—observing, conversing, and at times, even stepping on the canvas. These works create an intricate mental map, an indecipherable snapshot of a singular moment in both time and space.

“Illumination 5 (12 jours et 6 heures)” (2014) shows a painting on plexiglass. Vergara's work is characterised by transparency—in this case, both in its physical composition and conceptual essence. The transparent surfaces he employs as canvases integrate the external world intimately into the artwork, shaping it in the process. The painting becomes a literal reflection and projection of reality, capturing its transience through the artist's concentrated gestures and strokes of paint. By looking at the subject of his painting through his painting whilst it is being painted, the artist doubles the layers of meaning of the image and the imaging process. By literally accumulating different layers of transparent supports, the layers of meaning extend to infinity.

Two Gutai-period works by Japanese artist Sadaharu Horio (1939-2018) are included in this exhibition: “Untitled” (1968) and “Failure to the Tableau Though” (1970). Horio joined the Japanese avant-garde group Gutai in 1966 and was a member until the group dissolved in 1972. He dedicated his life to constantly creating, capturing, and preserving different moments in time. The precise moment of creation was essential for Horio, more so than the aesthetical outcome or subsequent exhibitions. There is a Japanese expression, Ichi-go-ichi-e, which describes the originality of a single moment. “One encounter. One chance." Each moment is unique and cannot be copied or reproduced. Atsuo Yamamoto, curator of The Museum of Modern Art in Shiga described the work of Horio as “[…] done under the one theme, to make the “invisible" visible. Horio always tries to grasp air—emptiness—or time, so essential for human beings but hard to recognise.” In this sense, Horio’s work is always a direct reflection and interpretation of the world, of the now. This is also apparent in the use of his materials, which often seem to be taken right out of everyday life.

The use of every day and decontextualised materials may also be found in “Mont Ventoux #49” (2022) by Peter Buggenhout (1963). Buggenhout's artistic expression gracefully navigates the realms of evolving ambiguity. Unconventional materials intertwine, inviting a flow of re-evaluation and diverse viewpoints. A quest for meaning unfolds. But, unlike most art, there's no clear story or symbolism in Buggenhout's work. He sees this as a reflection of society, mirroring our shared uncertainty and complexity. In that sense, he renounces any form of representation:

“When we look at an image, we instinctively aim to recognise something in it. My sculptures do not escape this entirely natural impulse on the part of the beholder. However, my works are built up in such a way that each impression one has of what one sculpture could refer to is dismantled as one walks around the work. Once you have finished walking around one of my sculptures, you cannot but conclude that it resembles nothing other than itself.”[1]

Buggenhout’s work is meticulously built up out of different, apparently unrelated layers. By doing so, he creates a new reality, which at first glance might resemble our world, but does not recognise it except for its sheer complexity.

Layered Realities invites visitors to plunge into their unconscious and dissect how they produce perceptions of reality. What layers are hidden, erased, or invisible, and which ones prevail, dominate, and blur our understanding of the world? Although art may not provide definitive answers, it has the potential to guide us toward asking the pertinent questions. Let the paradigms be shattered and rebuilt, for the tenets are but a carefully, yet subjectively layered construction.

[1] Peter Buggenhout, quoted in an interview with Michaël Amy, “Seizing the chaos of life: a conversation with Peter Buggenhout”, in Peter Buggenhout: It’s a strange, strange world, Sally (Tielt: Lannoo, 2010), pp. iii and iv.