Jef Geys
11 Apr - 06 Sep 2015
JEF GEYS
11 April - 6 September 2015
Jef Geys (Leopoldsburg, 1934) has made a radical break with art as something autonomous. His work presents itself as a critical analysis or communication of knowledge in the form, among other things, of everyday objects and images that he finds in his familiar surroundings (Balen) and which in some cases he distributes in his ‘Kempen Information Sheets’. He not only carries out critical studies of the value and originality of art, the museum as an institution and the aura of the artist, but also tackles broader societal topics. He reverses or undermines hierarchies by means of switched identities, infiltrating his work into unusual settings and introducing the ordinary things of life into his art. At regular intervals he distils new syntheses from his archives of the everyday and thereby questions clearly delineated patterns of thought concerning art and life.
At the S.M.A.K., Geys plans among other things, to show recent work which, like his earlier work, arises out of his critiques of institutions and political-social issues. He will formulate incisive questions and answers concerning the significance of art and museums and other topics. Geys will cast an eagle’s eye over what in his view was and was not, what is and is not, and what could have been and could still be.
11 April - 6 September 2015
Jef Geys (Leopoldsburg, 1934) has made a radical break with art as something autonomous. His work presents itself as a critical analysis or communication of knowledge in the form, among other things, of everyday objects and images that he finds in his familiar surroundings (Balen) and which in some cases he distributes in his ‘Kempen Information Sheets’. He not only carries out critical studies of the value and originality of art, the museum as an institution and the aura of the artist, but also tackles broader societal topics. He reverses or undermines hierarchies by means of switched identities, infiltrating his work into unusual settings and introducing the ordinary things of life into his art. At regular intervals he distils new syntheses from his archives of the everyday and thereby questions clearly delineated patterns of thought concerning art and life.
At the S.M.A.K., Geys plans among other things, to show recent work which, like his earlier work, arises out of his critiques of institutions and political-social issues. He will formulate incisive questions and answers concerning the significance of art and museums and other topics. Geys will cast an eagle’s eye over what in his view was and was not, what is and is not, and what could have been and could still be.