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Art collection

Benoît Platéus

2000

Type
Photographie
Materials

Pigment inkjet print

Dimensions
81,4 x 54,7 cm
Acquisition
Donation , 27/11/2020
Inventory number
K2020-014
Edition
5 (numéro 4 d'un tirage de 5)

"What interests me are the in-between stages, when everything is still possible. I love it when things defy categorisation. It makes them more present and powerful and allows their uniqueness to shine through.' Benoît Platéus

Benoît Platéus uses photography, video, drawing and sculpture to transform everyday images and spaces. He explores the hidden corners of the city and the strange quirks of the human mind, looking for the poetry of chance, the imperfect and traces of the past. His images distort, saturate, sparkle, blow up, disappear and are upended. They tilt and open themselves up to all kinds of interpretations, acquiring a new and singular meaning at every turn.

This is certainly true for Pages, in which the artist uses minute differences to show the pictorial possibilities contained within the pages of a book. Through enlargement and reframing, he lets different spaces merge, both inside and outside the book.
This process is repeated in the series Ghostburn, in which Platéus photographs archival images using extreme overexposure. This blurs the subjects and turns them into ghostly shadows, as if they have been incinerated by light, like the title suggests.

On a technical level, the backgrounds play an important role. They are heavily edited, allowing the superimposed motifs to latch onto the image. But they also seem to float in a kind of controlled state of dislocation. Deliberation seems less important than freedom and flukes determine how the work will pan out. Benoît Platéus is always keen to take full advantage of any opportunity that comes his way.

Art collection
  • A dark photograph with large orange road sign reflecting light. The sign is partially covered with another sign hanging over it. It stands on a city pavement near tram tracks.
    © Courtesy of the artist and Meessen De Clercq, Brussels