Tomas Vandecasteele

Doodverf (nec spe nec metu)

Predestined

Two years after his successful first solo exhibition Sharpness is a Bourgeois Concept, follows Dead-Colour in which Tomas Vandecasteele confines himself to the themes of ceremonial washing (ablution), sin and forgiveness (absolution).

The exhibition consists of two parts.

DCCSP ** For the video and photos Vandecasteele worked together with Royal Ballet Flanders’ principal dancer Wim Vanlessen. Choreographed by Vanlessen four dancers rehearsed the imagined movements of Caravaggio’s Crucifixion of Saint Peter in a systematically intensified style during which Vandecasteele photographed fragments of their depleted bodies.

In the second part Wudu/Hyssop/Ablution (video and photos), the washing ceremony takes centre stage and is placed in juxtaposition with contemporary pornography.

Referring to the ‘underpainting’ used during the baroque period as the seed of a painting, Vandecasteele attempts to mirror the imagery in the art of painting in his show Dead-Colour.
By applying techniques of blurring, over- and underexposure and the use of resin, he condemns the volatility of today’s photo consumption and forces his audience to carefully reflect upon reality and image perception.

Artists: Tomas Vandecasteele