Ruben Bellinkx works across various media, from drawings and photo works to video, film and installations; his choice of a particular medium is an important factor in the realization of a work. Cinematic and photographic means offer Bellinkx the possibility to compose, to isolate elements, to repeat and compress, all of which give his work a certain abstraction.
The seven simultaneous 16mm film projections in the show depict a fantastic world of perverse games gently directed by the artist; games where dogs attack and savagely decimate chairs and little tortoises struggle to move large tables. The mise-en-scène stresses the relationship between the natural world and domesticity and blurs the boundary between reality and illusion; images are teetering on the edge between recognizable reality and the bizarre world of imagination.
“I wish to emphasize the viewer’s sense of awe by creating a composition or setting, which resonates of a single poetic image balancing on the edges between familiarity and estrangement. Daily, recognizable elements are shown in an unfamiliar situation so as to confront the viewer with his/her conditioned perspective and to challenge them to revaluate their assumptions. Images with multiple layers of meaning arise in which the fragility of our supposedly stable reality becomes apparent.” – Ruben Bellinkx
About Ruben Bellinkx
Ruben Bellinkx, born in Wilrijk, Belgium is an artist, adventurer and storyteller. His artistic activity spans drawings, photography, film, video and installations. Bellinkx’s latest works are complex and beautifully filmed interventions that establish an ambiguous relationship between man-made objects and animals. His works have been shown extensively in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland. In 2010, his work was featured in a solo show at Gallery Geukens en De Vil, Belgium and was part of group shows at the European Media Art Festival, Germany, the Museum Het Domein, Netherlands and Gallery Maskara, India. In 2009-2008, Bellinkx’s work was exhibited at Z33, House for Contemporary Art, at S.M.A.K., the WIELS, Belgium and Marta Herford, Germany. He is a guest professor at KASK, the University College in Ghent, Belgium in the Department of Fine Arts (Drawing). The artist lives and works in Brussels, Belgium.
For more information, visit: http://www.rubenbellinkx.com