Jonas Vansteenkiste

Lives and works in Kortrijk (BE)

Within the oeuvre of artist Jonas Vansteenkiste, Bernice chose 4 pieces referring to one theme: houses and housing. The 4 chosen artworks are made out of different materials and can be categorized in 4 different media: photography, drawing, installation and sculpture.

The main theme, houses and housing, refers to both displacement, and the yearning for a permanent heimat.

His sculptures “A pile of Homes”, or “House Morphings” for example, are referring to concepts of home and domesticity. The idyllic image of the perfect house attracts us and we all long for the “perfect” house. Each of us has memories of home renovations, changes, improvements… and especially the time and effort that we spend on it. Not mentioning the limitations, often budgetary but also sometimes physically we experience, disagreements within the family, and comment from far beyond… Everyone relates to your place, from distant friends, close relatives or close neighbors. The artist places you, the spectator, the viewer, the passer-by in one active role: he invites you to step into the artwork and yourself – both mentally as physical to situate therein. For the installation “The Vanishing Point” this experience becomes very real because the artwork exists only if the viewer is prepared to apply a special wallpaper in his own room. Would you be prepared to take this challenge and therefor live in a work of art?

(after a text by Els Wuyts)