Leo Gabin
Real Estate (Foreclosure #01)
2019
Cardboard, paint, artist-made pedestal
40 × 33 × 25 cm
Unique sculpture in a series of 7 variations, signed by the artist
Uitverkocht
over dit werk
Real Estate consists of a series of scale models of typical houses from suburban America – as it were a typology of the cradle of the American dream. The scale models are based on images made by the artists during their travels in the United States, but also on a thorough investigation of images from Google Street View, and videos from My Neighborhood Tour, which the artists viewed on YouTube. The models are handmade from cardboard, which the artists recuperate from pizza boxes or packaging material that they collect in the shopping streets of Ghent. The scale models are then painted and presented on pedestals made of insulating material. The models undeniably offer a desolate impression, an image of a (American) dream that unfortunately threatens to become a nightmare for a large part of the population.
For this artlead edition, Leo Gabin chose one specific architectural typology, from which they then produced seven quasi-identical, handmade models. Each model is presented on its own small pedestal – each with a different stratification of recuperation material that the artists found in their studio.
This edition is accompanied by a small zine, published by Art Paper Editions. In it, the artists bring together a series of images from the different phases of the creation process of the models in their studio, and an overview of the different architectural typologies that are part of Real Estate.
over Leo Gabin
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.
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