29.01 – 05.03.22
What you see is not what you get
Charlot Van Geert turns things upside down, figuratively speaking. She shakes up our unshakeable faith
in objects and matter. By stripping objects of their seemingly obvious meaning, she creates new
contexts, humorous situations and critical reflections on the objects and art with which we surround
ourselves.
As a sculptor, she deals subversively with the materials traditionally given to her. In doing so, she not
only challenges their reality, but also her own role as an artist. From working with less 'high' materials
such as cardboard, polystyrene foam or PU foam, to the connection between the 'correct' material and
the 'appropriate' look (bronze water levels, polystyrene foam lamps): Van Geert likes to put us on the
wrong track.
She plays a game with design and the functions of objects: is it a utilitarian object or is it art? If a
candlestick is art, can you burn a candle in it? As soon as that question arises, it also deals with the
sacredness of art: does something still have artistic value when it can be manipulated, can get dirty,
can fall down? There is no need to fear fingerprints: those of the artist are often present, also in bronze
reliefs, in which the traces of the kneaded wax model are still clearly visible. It is as if Van Geert is
deliberately wiping her proverbial feet of the high status of art - also literally, with her bronze doormat
or six-pack can holder, and by elevating other everyday objects to artistic heights. By doing so, she also
takes them out of their comfort zone: her idiosyncratic techniques, for example, destroy the apparent,
proud inviolability of bronze.