M HKA Ensembles

° 1964

Born in Leuven (BE), lives in Brussels (BE).

Gert Verhoeven makes drawings, videos, installations and sculpture. His work is complex, elusive and very diverse. Content reigns over means of elaboration. Verhoeven assumes a critical stance as regards (art)history, which he considers too deterministic, and likes to refer to the remark by Marcel Broodthaers: Magritte est un père qui mange ses enfants (Magritte is a father who eats his children). The history of our thought is both determinative and limiting. Those who follow in Magritte’s path can never overtake him. That is why Verhoeven’s art works address possible means of escape, in art and in life. He rejects the choice between yes and no, between possibilities and non-possibilities. Verhoeven wants to keep all options open and so keeps his distance from categories and definitions laid down in art history. With appropriate irony, he keeps himself in perspective and strives to dialogue with the subconscious.