Leo Gabin
Real Estate (Forclosure), 2019
Cardboard, paint, artist-made pedestal
40 × 33 × 25 cm
Unique sculpture, in a series of 7
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.
