Eye of the Beholder

Some time ago I was introduced to this website for an art gallery in Antwerp (Belgium).  I shall name no names to protect the innocent.  The gallery has moved from Antwerp to Brussels, but it still has some pretty interesting/often disturbing works of art on display.

Since finding this gem on the web, I click on their website from time to time to see what's new so I can continue to be amused and astounded at what is considered art.

Now, I know from a reliable source that some and perhaps most of this art sells in the tens of thousands. I kid you not.

B. Wurtz

Untitled, 2001


wood, wire, mesh netting 

109.2 x 50.8 x 25.4 cm

Mesh netting.  In other words, those bags your oranges and onions come in.  And I've been throwing those away for years.  Probably still will.

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Christopher Knowles

47 Floors CK 1 28, 1975 

typing on paper

Typing on a typewriter on paper.  In case the words are too small, it is a list reading "1st floor, 2nd floor and so on . . . " I have to admit I haven't seen anything like this in . . . well, probably since 1975.  I may have even typed this.  Nostalgia at its finest.

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Margaret Salmon

Still from Pyramid, 2013

5-channel video installation

colour and b&w 16mm film on digital, silent

Yes Margaret, I find this disturbing, but I'm not sure why.

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Martin Soto Climent

Yet to be titled, 2013

tights, fabric, feather

"Yet to be titled".  I can think of a few things to call it.  Fortunately there is a description so I know it's a fancy feather duster caddy made from a pair of charcoal pantyhose stuffed with a small duvet.  

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Michel Auder

Found Object, 2012

c-print

47 x 35,4 cm

Although I prefer cooking on a gas stove, I've always loved a good photo of an electric stove top.  I guess the cork and egg just happened to be there.

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Virginia Overton

Untitled (mud), 2012

lumber and construction mud

dimensions variable

Again, "untitled" and that's perfectly understandable since there really are no words to truly do this one justice.  I like the way they use "construction mud" as a fancy way to say sakrete and it IS impressive that most of it stayed on the "lumber" - just a few drips on the floor.  I would probably title that part "Sakrete Spillage".

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Darren Bader 

(3) buttered rolls

dimensions variable

Dimensions variable.  Darren, if you were going for (3) buttered rolls, you have nailed it.

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Uri Aran

Untitled, 2010
book, glass, pencil eraser, and cookies
3 x 7 x 5 inches

Ah, I see a theme developing.  Three rolls, now three cookies from totally different artists.  "Untitled" yet again. Book, glass, pencil eraser, and cookies.  Pencil eraser?

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Of course.  You gotta look at all sides of this thing.

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Matthew Smith

Semi-Comfortable, 2008

6 wooden tables with cotton cloths

dimensions variable

Six wooden tables.  Not five.  Not seven.  You have to admit pushing six (not five and not seven) tables together in such a way is brilliant.  I think "Uncomfortable" might be a better title for this one.

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Sean Lynch

Reconstruction of Irish Energies

peat briquettes, butter, display case

edition of 6

Reconstruction of Irish Energies. Can someone please explain this to me? Ok, in Ireland, it is apparently common to use peat as solid fuel and it's virtually smokeless.  I will say that when it comes to briquettes, that charcoal IS exemplary.  And filled with butter? Yummy.  That butter's probably gonna smoke though.

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Becky Beasley

The Archaeologist & The Road Engineer (Part 1), 2006

Black American Walnut Veneer on wood, wood glue

36 x 6 x 6 cm each

edition of 3

I'm sure I just don't have a true appreciation for how accurately Becky has used wood glue to attach that Black American Walnut veneer onto "wood" wedges.  I do know they would make commendable door stops.

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David Hominal

Element III, 2009

acrylic on cardboard

35 x 48 x 35 cm

I'm pretty sure that's a cardboard box.  What I'm not sure of is where the acrylic comes in.  No doubt David worked hours and hours getting this right.

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Owen Land

On the Marriage Broker Joke as Cited by Sigmund Freud in Wit and its Relation to 

the Unconscious or Can the Avant-Garde Artist Be Wholed?, 1977–79

16mm, 18', color, sound, Edition of 5

Just couldn't decide on a title for this disturbing one, Owen?  On the Marriage Broker Joke as Cited by Sigmund Freud in Wit and its Relation to the Unconscious OR Can the Avant-Garde Artist Be Wholed?  

What?

Googled it and turns out it's an 18 min. short movie directed by Mr. Owen Land himself.

Two pandas, who exist only by textual error, run a shell game for the viewer in an environment with false perspectives. They posit the existence of various films and characters, one of which is interpreted by an academic as containing religious symbolism. Finally, Sigmund Freud's own explanation is given by a sleeper awakened by an alarm clock.' (P. Adams Sitney)

I decided this short film was probably too disturbing to watch and no doubt way over my head.

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Will Benedict

Sarko Bonnes Vacances, 2010
schaumpappe, aluminium, glas, gouache auf leinwand
108 x 155 cm

I can't say I found anything I'd pay good money for, but in all fairness, every piece of art at this gallery and probably thousands of other galleries aren't all strange (in my opinion).  Like the one above.  Schaumpappe is German for foam board and gouache is German for a particular kind of paint.  I'm not saying I'd hang this on my wall, but it DID require paint and a paintbrush . . . so there's that.

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Kirsten Pieroth

Pay Day, 2012

candy bars, rubber band

This one has to be my favorite.  Pay Day candy bars with a rubber band wrapped around them.  If this isn't art, then I'm no art critic.

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Perhaps this has inspired you to go and create something disturbing or just plain weird.