M HKA Ensembles

1955 - 2016

Born in Kortrijk (BE).

The Belgian painter Joris Ghekiere (1955-2016) makes eye-catching work that is rife with ambiguity. He is inspired by the beauty he finds in his own photographs or in images taken from the Internet. His lyrical and eclectic approach seeks to blend various styles and techniques, combining figurative images and abstract motifs. He paints still lives of plants and trees, futuristic landscapes, masked characters, a glittering disco ball, tile motifs, a dead dog, and countless portraits of young women – often seen from behind – always with a remarkable hairdo, pose or facial expression. Ghekiere is fascinated by stereotypical beauty that seems literally too good to be true, and that, as such, provokes the emergence of melancholy and a sense of impermanence. The beauty of the image is called into question through the techniques the artist uses: colours blending together, so-called "Photoshopped" negative images, a strange shadow or an uncomfortable angle. As a result, his oeuvre, like that of several Belgian painters of his generation, belongs to the image-questioning contemporary painting: the medium is used to question the image, both visually and in terms of content.

Text: Hans Willemse
Translations: Michael Meert