© Raquelle Verheyen – Clearly, this Baby is Happy to See You

I came to realize that I’m creating something that’s coming from the past. Something existing but also imagined. A memory or a dream. From childhood pictures to unpleasant and even frightening pictures, simple cardboard boxes with beer crates or just a blowable yoga ball with a binder. I’m obsessed with the contrast of fiction and reality, this is a strong argument for my work.

I love to experiment with sculpting, music, videos, installations, photography, poetry and drawings. Materials like steel, plaster, plastic, clay, found objects, fabric and synthetic cushion filling is what I use very often. I’m constantly researching my work. The inspiration and the ideas that are going on in my head, change everyday. What I see, feel and hear in my life inspires me. My work consists of found objects, it is material from our day-to-day life that I turn into an industrial assemblage, an enigmatic and interactive installation. When I see an interesting and powerful object somewhere on the streets, I take it right away and in the meantime, I think about what I want to do with it. Sometimes I’m not going to need that object in the end but most of the time it does add value. I combine my work with different elements like digital elements within a video work. Each object or material has its own power in my work and connects well.

I’m not focussed on just one medium or concept, the timeframes of the media are creating an atmosphere of their own. It’s layered digital and analog. I incorporate language and sound into my work, these are important tools to think further. I want the imagination of the viewer to come organically. That’s why I make something riddle and it will develop curiosity, humor and absurdism. My work will give a lot of space for the audience to interpret.