Bas Ketelaars
Even if you were to stand right in front of the works of Bas Ketelaars, they could still elude you or you’d think that they were not finished. Take, for example, a white empty paper that has been taped to the wall with an enormous amount of transparent tape, as if it wouldn’t stick otherwise. An extreme fastening for a thin sheet. With this the work seems to dissolve completely in its surroundings and the vulnerability of the materials is emphasized.
Ketelaars knows how to connect the materiality and the image with each other with simple touches and uses a mix of techniques for this: sculpture, collage, painting, graphic art, etc. In this manner he has developed a completely personalised working method for his cardboard images. He presses uniform reliefs of about 15 x 15 cm into large cardboard sheets with an etching press. With these he folds tight forms, like boxes. These are then partly broken off, which suggests a formlessness. As if the image can turn into something else any moment and the viewer must be deprived of his footing. It seems as if his works inquire into the relationship between destruction and creation. A serious theme, but well handled with his use of materials and constructive working methods.
It is not easily given to the viewer to penetrate his work. In his drawings Ketelaars literally sets up an obstacle for the observer’s glance. Large, black crossed out spaces with remainders of line drawings underneath cover most of the paper. The drawing seems to be edged out, as if instead of an eraser, he has used graphite. The questions that arise are, whether Ketelaars wants to show us that a definitive image cannot exist or that it is yet to originate? Because he leaves these questions unanswered, it involves the viewer even more in the process of creation of the artwork.
Bas Ketelaars lives and works in Antwerp, where he graduated from the Art Academy of Sint Lucas in 2009.
A.R.