LEMURES — SB34

(c) Silvia Cappellari

︎ SB34 The Pool

LEMURES

Erik Thys

in collaboration with Harald Thys
Text by Joséphine Wagnier

16.11 - 9.12.23

The pack rushes past, dispersing with the slightest change in direction, their eyes headlights, the speed of the passing junctions making it hard to distinguish each individual and yet the lines of their movement throw off a characterological existentialism. Lemures shows us a series of cars ‘parked’ in Erik Thys’ imagination, a clique of automobile embodiments that he puts together after carefully observing all the traffic around him. With a mechanic’s hand, he has drawn portraits of friends, patients, and particles of himself: a car dealer inspired by fragments of human lives. In its repetitive movements, his pencil is driven only by bursts of exhaust; Erik Thys himself has very little control in this race for new models that make their appearance (for the most part) as cars.

This irrational translation makes us question the conceptual methods of the automobile. Once adapted to the beast that would pull it along, with the invention of the motor the carriage became autonomous and as such, a mirror for demagogic humanity. It was an organ that brought about a system of life based in the machine—from transmissions to steering systems, humanity only had to follow the route that had been traced out for it. Although it was inspired by nature, the automobile industry reveals and guarantees a resolution to every human obstacle, embodying a sort of alter ego for any driver dreaming of independence and freedom. And yet, for each period in History, the grimmest victors have all put in their own automobile appearances. As he draws, Erik Thys is caught up and carried along by the conditions of his standardised models, his goofy exteriors and bodyworks. There is a humanising pareidolia at play here, one simply related to the visual, mimetic stimuli that forms produce.

Interiority is lacking in these motorised machines that often switch on only to follow the same old routes. Introspectively following his own automatic associations, Erik Thys attempts to embody them in physical existences, filling the void with a garish sort of ectoplasm that speaks of human realities. His practice involves transmitting sympathy for these realities, almost like a serpentine belt connecting primary machinery to the machinery of feeling. The damp underground location of The Pool (once a garage) contributes to the porosity of these portraits: in their shimmering reflections, we can discern characteristics that can be read in parallel with our own relation to the world, bringing into play constructions that are the result of disparate temporalities as well as contemporary issues. This horizontal relationship makes for an empathetic reading, where the creator and the machine can no longer be told apart.

Joséphine Wagnier
Translated by Jack Cox

︎ ARTIST

ERIK THYS (1961)

Erik Thys lives and works in Brussels. He works as a psychiatrist and studies the links between psychiatry, art and stigma. He founded KAOS, an organisation for promotin artists with a psychiatric vulnerability. He has written psychiatric comic strips and books about WWII. He composes music and draws extensively. His work has been shown at Bozar, WIELS and Etablissement d’en face (Brussels), artgeneve and The Artist’s Institute (New York), Galerie Castillo-Corrales and Le Doc (Paris), CAC (Vilnius), Objectif Exhibitions (Antwerp), Garage (Rotterdam), and MACRO (Rome).

︎ Exhibition open on Saturday 14:00 - 18:00
︎ Finissage 9.12.23 - 19:00 - 21:00 + performance by Erik Thys

Supported by Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles

Alix Dussart
Luke Calzonetti
éditions la CAB/Charles Pigneul, Alan Jeuland & Brieuc Weulersse
Lars Herman Hegg
Julie Larrouy
Jacques Le Bourgeois
Anna Luz Pueyo
Sophie Martin
Rokko Miyoshi
Justin Sanchez
Marion Séhier

Thily Vossier

Mohammed Alani
Homa Arkani
Christophe Nasaridis/Biim

Gert De Clercq

Indigo Deijmann
Roshan Di Puppo

Nasrine Kheltent
Yona Laci
Anatole Lachasagne

Nikko Noirhomme
Fanny Patarin
Rik Peeters
Annelein Pompe

Stijn Stevens
Prose Studio
Paul de Toytot
Amélie Uwera-Ngira
Jivan van der Ende
Chantal van Rijt

Alix Dussart Luke Calzonetti éditions la CAB/Charles Pigneul, Alan Jeuland & Brieuc Weulersse Lars Herman HeggJulie LarrouyJacques Le Bourgeois Anna Luz Pueyo Sophie Martin Rokko Miyoshi Justin Sanchez Marion Séhier

Thily Vossier

Mohammed Alani Homa ArkaniChristophe Nasaridis/Biim

Gert De Clercq

Indigo Deijmann Roshan Di Puppo

Nasrine Kheltent Yona Laci Anatole Lachasagne