Louise Delanghe mentions typing in, for example ‘Cowgirls in the heat of the battle’ on Google. Her paintings often build up from today’s relation to images, and irrevocably the internet’s effortless way of bringing together a snail, a parrot and a word like ‘Schnellspannmutter’ in a few cm2.
For these ‘Check-Mates’, her search engines read Russian depictions and board games. Painted in lacquer thick and shiny feels more than a sheer finish. Her UNO-like colour scheme, like a remedy to dullness, fires up a colourful brigade.
Spending the winter of 2020 in Ostend resurfaced memories of being a little girl visiting the vibrant though tacky folklore dance demonstrations in Koksijde. She was shaken by the way different cultures’ costumes and postures represent an attitude towards life at large. Seemingly random, these memories popped up, and colourful figures in costumes came to merge and embody image searches — with Russian figure painting; to end up in Velux Check-Mates. (text by Céline Mathieu)

Artists: Louise Delanghe