James Ensor
Alimentation
doctrinaire
1889
etching enhanced with wash and colored chalk on Japanese paper, plate I, second state
18 x 23,8 cm
Los Angeles County
Museum of Art, Los Angeles
The
neo-liberal ‘flat’ world of international money and their local lackeys is
pressing hard on the everyday life of citizens, everything is sellable and what
does not sell isn’t worth anything and can be discarded. It’s a deeply cynical
belief. The real threats that face our planet and future generations are not
addressed, the people we choose to represent us, act like clowns and players in
a theatre. Reacting primarily to the last tweets, facebook posts and
internet-scandals, they are under constant pressure from the media to perform.
Ensor
made fun of power, cynical, hard and unforgiving. How would the present day
version of his 'Alimentation doctrinaire' look? Church, army, king and court?
It would look very simple, ordinary guys in power suits, white mostly,
apparatchiks and managers, people rewarded for being able to take harsh
decisions, lacking the powers of fantasy to even begin imagining the effects of
their actions on other people. This is a challenge and I’ve decided to make
‘necessary‘ works, work that needs to be made, thoroughly democratic in spirit,
hopefully uplifting and stimulating.
Stijn Peeters, 2015
Sorgeloos
2014
acrylic and oil on
linen
250 x 200 cm
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