IRREVERSIBLE DIRK JANSSENS BELGIUM
ME AND MY EVER CHANGING MOODS (2013)
Polished Bronze 100 cm x 100 cm (40” x 40” inches)
Art and Text, as the name might suggest, takes an in-depth look at the use of text in modern and contemporary fine art – “one of the most defining developments in visual art of the twentieth century” – and examines the way in which text has introduced a new mode of thought to artistic practices.
During the 1960s, it became common practice for modernist critics to attribute a meaning or explanation to a piece of work, but with text now playing such a prominent role, the justification for the artwork’s existence seemed to already be there, written clearly in front of the viewer. In actual fact, many artists such as Dadaist René Magritte used it as an anti-art or an “anti-aesthetic sentiment”, rejecting conventional artistic standards or even questioning whether or not “art” actually exists.
Today, artists are still developing and expanding this prominent artistic medium’s possibilities; Dirk Janssens uses text as a means of directly confronting the viewer and provoking an immediate response that takes an in-depth look at the use of text in art. When language is used in the artistic domain, the letter, the word or the sentence are seen and experienced. The language is freed from the page as well as from its received meanings, habitual forms.
NOOR BLAZEKOVIC
Publisher/ Chief Editor
Irreversible Magazine
BIOGRAPHY
Dirk Janssenss lives and works in Leuven, Belgium. During his childhood, he worked in the studio of his father, sculptor and artist Freddy Janssens. That is where he learned how to sketch, paint, use and understand materials and techniques. He painted portraits, abstract works, worldly wisdoms and quotes on canvas.
After years of intense research and study, Janssens made his first collection in 2010. He named it Made in Wonderland. It was one of the most popular shows to be exhibited at CATM CHELSEA, New York in 2011.
He continued his professional career as an artist with his second collection, Lost in Wonderland, debuting at the BAH – Belgian Art House, where his work was welcomed with great excitement and proved most successful. There his work was displayed with some of the greatest contemporary Belgian artists, including, Luc Tuymans, Michael Borremans, Arne Quinze, Hans Op de Beeck and Jan De Cock.
Continuing his success with his Wonderland series, his third solo exhibition, Back in Wonderland, was exhibited at the BOA Gallery in Los Angeles, CA in July 2012. The LA exhibition was highlighted on Belgian television. Janssens was then selected to participate in the second installation of BAH – Belgian Art House II in November 2012.
LOVE-ART
In his art Dirk Janssens explores the positive and emotional aspects of the basic
concept of being human. His work is a tribute to life and love, purely
instinctive, in a completely unique language. By doing so he makes his
audience contemplate their own happiness, their own love experience. He christened his works LOVE-Art with a nod to the Pop Art movement.
RREVERSIBLE Art Mónaco’14, Riviera Francesa
Featuring Dirk Janssens booth I3-I4
April 24 – April 27 2014
IRREVERSIBLE PROJECTS - THE MAGAZINE 