Love =>< Love is a piece with repurposed materials

Materials

Sheet of plastic +- A3 which used to be in a photo frame: Imprint Love Love in pink

Another sheet with orange and red flowers which was already wrinkled

Cardboard pieces of a coolblue box

Paper tea bags

a piece of cord

charcoal

a receipt

gel medium

black paint

water

a wood burn stamp

glue

Meaning

It's a piece meant to represent struggle, tears , uneven playfield, rage, depression… and cheekiness, hidden meaning, layers in the literal and figurative sense.

It mostly represents my own journey of liberty, freedom to do as you please, freedom to express emotions, freedom to be, freedom to love or not love, to make our own choices. As simple as these seem, mentally I have had limited freedoms, limited by beliefs, stereotypes, ideals and roles that are imposed.

The struggle is portrayed in the ripping of the paper and chaotically placing it all over the artwork. It could also be perceived in the piece of cord. It has light and black parts representing illness or mental illness versus life that falls lightly. Even the burning of the edges of the thin paper represents struggle and internal pain. The darkness represents the heaviness of feelings. In this piece the darkness is clearly portrayed and not hidden to show it to the world. It’s not sugar coated, actually quite the opposite as the canvas is sprinkled with salt. Salt is known to keep safe, and is sprinkled to protect the subject of the feelings of further harm. The uneven structure of the cardboard is highlighted in black charcoal to better show it. This piece is all about telling, showing, not hiding. Yet the layers and black do conceal some of the work. It represents the freedom to feel and to heal. In our society, feeling bad feelings is not yet widely accepted, it is deemed uncomfortable for the other person to see you struggle with ‘bad feelings’. There are no bad feelings. Once felt they melt away so hiding them has no use but to keep someone else comforted. The colors in this work are familiar to those who know. Soft pink, orange and red are significant markers of the freedom to love. They also give the piece a soft feminine vibe amongst the harsh black and still abundant white and cream. The teabags represent cheekiness. The yellow gives them a happy touch. Some of the words are still readable. "Partagez ce avec", "for everyone", enjoy", "rgy". Of course they also represent what's wrong with our world, our history and what contributes to our mental health. The wealthy enjoy their tea while it's harvested with a tremendous amount of labor and shipped across the world in containers. Our comfort is created by the work of others. Our luxury is someone else’s misery. To reinforce that, the label of the shipped box is visible. Postmen are also known to work on a killing schedule while other people enjoy having their goods delivered to their doorstep. The handwritten receipt is reminiscent of old times, but also reinforces that message that money is everywhere. The receipt might also signify deception. Nowadays all receipts are typed out, to keep track of sales for government taxes. Is this a sign of tax fraud? Who is hit the hardest by tax fraud? The other workers who miss out on benefits because of it? Or the ones inning taxes? Are honest people at a disadvantage because of it? One thing is certain, we are all at a disadvantage when the ones with big incomes don't pay taxes. Wealth is distributed unevenly, people aren’t able to afford a comfortable living anymore. Were we ever? Are we too dangerous to the ruling power when we could? Actual freedoms seem to disappear worldwide. Mental freedoms become more important? Love is one of those, love comes in many forms. Friends, lovers, community, pets (weird way to handle animals, they are caged and not there in free will, even though I have a cat). Pets signify or need to control everything as humans. We are afraid of how unhinged things would be if they roam freely. Same goes for humans, the ruling class is afraid of how free we would be and how we wouldnt give a fuck about them and they would lose control.

This work is subconsciously influenced by the collage classes in my painting class, the unhinged tv show I saw yesterday wie zoekt die wint, and the abstract work of some of my painting friends and coworkers/ co-artists like Lluis salvador sanchez, Han coussement, Joke derycke and examples in the painting classes. And probably more given the subconscious part.

The title love =>< love could be a reference to the love is love queer slogan. But the >< signs also imply a clash. I interpret this in a way that hetero love is portrayed everywhere but once there’s a drop of queer love visible, it is a problem for some, and the abundant love all of a sudden needs to shrink.

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