Sven ‘t Jolle
Great Depression Coloring Book
2017
€2000,00
Digital print on textile paper
This is a suite of 3 prints, measuring 78 x 57 cm each
Edition of 10 copies, signed and numbered by the artist
In stock
about this work
The title of this edition is referring to a widely known term ‘Great Depression’ recently being used (again) to describe the deteriorating economic situation and the loss of social achievements most of the working population in the Western world also has been dealing with since the eighties. The artist uses this depressing fact, with a great dose of humor as an incentive for protest, in the Great Depression Coloring Book (2017), in which he collects a number of drawings which (as a comment on the ‘meditative’ colouring books for adults) can keep us occupied for a while. The series of 3 prints each depicting 4 different motives contains a wide variety of drawings, icons of his works, that stress the timelessness as well as the actuality of the problem.
about Sven ‘t Jolle
Sven ’t Jolle’s work can be read as an impassioned critique of capitalism, mixing poetry and humour with social engagement. His installations, sculptures and works on paper reveal how he fuses together historical references and citations from everyday life to create new and eloquent constellations of images, forms and ideas. His visual idiom is informed by both art history and popular culture, for example by the Belgian cartoons of his youth, masterpieces of twentieth-century painting or archaeological artefacts. He also plays with language, mixing catchphrases and proverbs as he moves between different languages and registers. Sven ‘t Jolle’s work explores the values of contemporary society, addressing with understated humour its inequalities.
A recurrent technique in ’t Jolle’s work is the practice of détournement. Associated with the Situationists, it translates as “rerouting” or “hijacking” and is often employed to turn mass-media signs or symbols against their original meaning. Playing with an existing sign (or artwork), ’t Jolle adapts it to offer an alternative reading. By working within this tradition of détournement – also employed by punk in the 70s or the culture jamming movement of the 80s – he locates his practice within a history of political engagement, while his references root him firmly within the realm of art.
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