In her work, Lut Vanautgaerden reflects on contemporary zapping culture by harnessing the potential of collage. Every day, we make a selection from an abundance of images, so that only a fraction of them actually enters our mind. At the same time, the images that we see are, to a large extent, manipulated. Thus the reality presented to us by mass media does not always correspond to our own reality. Lut Vanautgaerden takes over these techniques of cutting, pasting and processing and thus creates her own compositions that refer to personal memories and experiences. In contrast to what we are accustomed to, she makes the game of manipulation visible. The viewer is not absorbed by an image, but is aware of the potential for deception. The various different media used by artist are closely connected. Paintings are often created on the basis of previous collages, which are, in turn, the result of self-made or found photographs. These sometimes become part of larger, site-specific installations in which the artist optically lengthens the exhibition spaces. However, these trompe l’oeils have an alienating effect, because a number of elements shatter the illusion. In her quest to create even more distance between so-called ‘reality’ and the viewer, the artist has made a video of previous installations. This recently introduced medium wants – to an even greater extent than painting – to be believable. However, as it is simply one of the many phases in an entire creative process, the video is the furthest removed from the source of inspiration that is often still visible in the collages.

Ilse Roosens, maart 2015

Exhibition at The White House Gallery

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