SHANGHAI.- The arched project space of TANK, with its industrial architectural features, serves as the setting for Belgian artist Thomas Lerooy’s exhibition on the theme of «Light». This site-specific installation invites visitors to engage in two ways: to approach it gradually from the outside, or to examine the intricate details of the paintings up close, experiencing the contrasting qualities of ‘light’ at both macro and micro levels, and within natural and urban landscapes.
Seven small paintings are rendered in vibrant colors and delicate brushstrokes. These works are placed within seven color circles - six in color and one in white - each symbolizing different facets of light. Their various combinations form two different color models commonly used in contemporary society - RGB and CMYK, representing digital screens and print respectively. Although it is impossible to fully capture or reproduce light, its manifestation - color - is constantly being mixed, expressed and re- created by humans, yet the circles remain distinct, like spotlights illuminating a wall.
Born in Roeselare, Belgium in 1981, Thomas Lerooy first gained recognition for his sculptural work. His recent solo exhibitions include Behind the Scenes (Royal Museums of Fine Arts, Brussels, Belgium); Vanity Fair (Castle of Gaasbeek, Belgium); Playground (Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Belgium); and Beauty in the Shadow of the Stars (Petit Palais, Paris, France).
In his exploration into painting, Lerooy has drawn on the traditional techniques of classical painting and the compositional styles of Surrealism, exploring a balance between control and spontaneity, abs- traction and figuration, while searching for his own artistic voice. In this exhibition, Lerooy encourages the viewer to prioritize sensation over interpretation, experiencing the shifting layers of time and flow through the medium of painting, ultimately leading to a deeper personal engagement. In this way, both painting and the theme of ‘light’ have provided the artist with similar sources of inspiration.
- Jin Jing
The oeuvre of Thomas Lerooy is characterized by an inherent duality: it attracts and repels at the same time, it is recognizable yet alienating, it is humorous and serious, intimate as well as grotesque. Whether Lerooy draws, sculpts or paints, he is always searching for the limits of his medium or his subject. His enigmatic works challenge the logic of the viewer and leave the interpretation to their imagination. He uses recognizable motifs that he maniplates and thus undermines. In the last 15 years, Lerooy has made a name for himself with his sculptures and drawings. His paintings are a recent development that came out of a necessity. Lerooy stumbled upon the limits of his maniacal drawing technique and the constraints gravity imposes when working in bronze. He investigates and breaks through the codes of painting, which manifests itself in a tension between abstraction and figuration, sharpness and haze, structure and smoothness. They are light-hearted and charged at the same time, and thus put themselves and the reality from which they arise into perspective.
His work has been the subject of several institutional solo exhibitions in recent years, including Behind the Curtain at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium (2019); Vanity Fair at Gaasbeek Castle, Gaasbeek, Belgium (2018); Playground in Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Bel- gium (2017); and Beauty in the shadow of the stars at the Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France (2015).
Lerooy’s work is included in public institutions such as TANK Museum, Shanghai, China; the Musée Na- tional d’Art Moderne – Center Pompidou, Paris, France; Province of West Flanders, Belgium; Belfius Art Collection, Brussels, Belgium, City of Brussels, Belgium, City of Puurs and City of Knokke, Belgium.
