 |
| "Good Luck, My Baby!" by Gert Robijns at Art on Lake (2011) |
What you see can be another person´s perception.
That´s the floating mystery Flemish contemporary artist Gert Robijns created for Art on Lake (22 May – 4 September) in central Budapest.
Robijns, age 39, calls it, “Good Luck, My Baby!”
The artist once overheard a resident at an assisted living home for the mentally disabled, say: “Loop eens verder, slimme Ricky (Keep moving, smart Ricky.)”
This is how the resident at the opening of the work described Robijns´ new kinetic installation or art intervention specially built to evoke and provoke.
 |
| "Loop eens verder, slimme Ricky" by Gert Robijns (2011) |
It is a very sensory piece with lights, moving, colorful objects in various directions, all encased in glass nestled in a lush, green park-like setting.
Robijns grabbed the line for the work´s title: “Loop eens verder, slimme Ricky (Keep moving, smart Ricky)”
Who knows how he came up with “Good Luck, My Baby!”
In June, when I first saw the floating assortment of green platforms a few centimeters thick in a fixed design (sort of) bobbing on the waters near the shore of Budapest´s City Park Lake, I knew its author loved creating conundrums.
What is it? What is the concept?
 |
| Gert Robijns |
Except four or five ducks that sunned and relieved themselves on these convenient “broad curving bubbles,” as Robijns described them in earlier Art on Lake literature.
Little did I know I was looking at floating cutouts of Disney´s Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
The artist likes to create delayed responses.
The artist likes to create delayed responses.
It worked, since until I read the literature, I had no clue, other than it was a nice thing to do for the ducks.
You would have to be in a helicopter hovering low over the lake to fully appreciate the comic imagery.
But Mickey and Donald, previously in play on a lake at a Belgian zoo—at least in my case—evoked the kind of interaction Robijns seeks in his installations.
“An installation existing in space can give us something totally different. It is in the present time,” he told Csilla Regos in a reported interview long before the show opened.
 |
| Another view of "Good Luck, My Baby!" by Gert Robijns (early) at Art on Lake |
At the zoo lake, drivers on a highway can see Mickey and Donald from a distance, a most definite floating likeness, according to unverified online reports.
As long as any of his works interact with the viewer, create questions, then it´s doing its job and achieving the artist´s goal.
Robijns attended the Sint Lukas University in Brussels and the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. He teaches at the KASK in Gent.
A photographer and video artist, he now prefers installations as more immediate and intimate.
Since 1999, Robijns has had at least four solo shows and numerous group exhibitions in Belgium, Austria, Spain, New York, Berlin and the Netherlands (Maastricht).
NOW SHOWING: Robijns´ collection of old and new works depicts various objects in people´s immediate environment forcing viewers to question them.
It continues at the M van Museum Leuven, www.mleuven.be, through 11September. It opened 22 June.
The online description of this show states: “His recent sculptures treat concepts such as order-disruption, activity-inactivity, above-below and positive-negative.”
Rock on and practice peace and love.
Stefan, the ArtTraveler ™
ArtTraveler notes:
After living at the Hotel Queen Mary in Budapest (3.5 stars), I heartily recommend it: old on the outside, otherwise totally modern (23 rooms);
The owner and staff are affable and speak English and German. Tel: 0036-1-413-3510; www.hotelqueenmary.hu; info@hotelqueenmary.hu.
Visit Andalusia for a walking holiday or week-long sculpture or mosaics workshop.
See: www.spanjeanders.nl and www.competafinearts.com.
 | |||
| "Spanish Life Stilled," photograph by Stefan van Drake (2009) |
You may reach me at stefanvandrake@gmail.com or by calling (34) 915 067 703 or from the UK at BT landline rates, 0844 774 8349.
No comments:
Post a Comment