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Leo Gabin is Gaëtan Begerem (°1979), Lieven Deconinck (°1978) and Robin De Vooght (°1980); they work collectively together since 2000. In their artistic practice, they investigate how online filters and interpretations shape the contemporary visual culture, and how this in turn is influenced by the ubiquitous American pop culture. Leo Gabin relies largely on archival footage they find online – which they abstract, distort, and recycle into new configurations.

Leo Gabin takes inspiration from the internet’s proliferation of media images, particularly the wealth of information that uncomfortably straddles the private and public realm. From this never-ending morass, the collective harvests content. The work and methodology implicitly explore the transience and capriciousness that underpins youth culture.

Not limiting their practice to one medium Leo Gabin’s approach is indicative of a media-savvy generation. Traditional barriers between mediums are broken down as they work across video, digital media, print, sculpture, painting and collage. Leo Gabin pushes romantic notions of artistic inspiration aside and creates works that use aggregated social media content to provoke the imagination. In doing so, the works that emerge expose the often unsavoury nature of the content that our colleagues, friends and teenagers are openly putting online.