Jan Christensen
Sluit je ogen, verbeeld je kunst, 2006
Oil paint, wall painting
1057 x 441 cm., 1035 x 420 cm.
For the public artwork in the series of “Blind Walls” in Ghent, I was in dialogue with the people of the area of Papegaaistraat and the curator Angelique Campens. Anke D'Haene from the City of Ghent was of great assistance in the preparations of the installation.My work often reflects on artistic processes and aesthetics in general, producing self-critical work of negating character in order to open up discussion and stimulate dialogue. The opportunity to produce a public artwork in the city of Ghent parallel to an installation at SMAK is a chance to present work with different approaches. While the work in Papegaaistraat communicates a broad and rhetorical approach, the work for SMAK reflects a more direct take on the architecture of the building and has an overall decorative effect.
The piece “Sluit je ogen, verbeeld je kunst” was conceived in response to a range of wishes, demands and conditions that surfaced during the process of producing sketches for the two walls in Papegaaistraat. The artwork has been designed to have an immediate impact on the viewer, with the intention of stimulating a response of contemplation and wonder. It is an artwork that challenges the idea of installing art in the public, which I personally find very complicated, and rejects immediate expectations of what such art should be. It also questions the aesthetics of the commonly found legal graffiti commissions existing in Ghent, while actually sharing more of an aesthetic and communicative spirit with omnipresent vandalism and statements sprayed and cluttered in the public. Following the appropriation and effect of such an aesthetic, I wanted to stimulate the conflicting impression with the statement expressing “Close Your Eyes, Imagine Art”, translated into Flemish for the installation in Ghent. Of course such a statement, asking one to close one's eyes, also plays on the title of the general series of the public art installations in Ghent, namely “Blind Walls”.
I am very intrigued by this great opportunity to have such an artwork installed in Ghent, hopefully inspiring thoughts, ideas and critical awareness of the the role and function art can have in the public.