Hans Op de Beeck Staging Silence (2)
Herron School of Art and Design, Indianapolis, IN
January 11 - February 25, 2017
Hans Op de Beeck work in sculpture, installation, film, photography, and painting. He creates non-existent but identifiable places that aggrandize the ordinary moments of life. These works are described as “proposals” which stimulate the viewer into experiencing the complexity and wonder of the human condition. The staged sets force the viewer to simultaneously recognize and reject the imagery as a parallel reality, acting as a critical point for investigation, inquiry, and to examine the absurdity of constructed scenes. Each mini scene created in the film brings into question the relationship between reality and representation.
Staging Silence (2) is a black-and-white video of the construction of various miniature sets and dioramas. They are designed as abstractions of public places the artist has experienced. The ease and artistry of each creation brings into question notions of familiarity and intimacy, between what is real, what we see, and what we want to see. As each location is transformed into majestic landscapes from ordinary objects, Op de Beeck exposes tricks of perspective and absurdity and presumption of memory.
