Freek Wambacq

In its old sense the verb “bricoler” applied to ball games and billiards, to hunting, shooting and riding. It was however always used with reference to some extraneous movement: a ball rebounding, a dog straying or a horse swerving from its direct course to avoid an obstacle. And in our own time the “bricoleur” is still someone who works with his hands and uses devious means compared to those of a craftsman.

Claude Lévi-Strauss, the savage mind

Freek Wambacq’s œuvre investigates the uncertain intersection between sculpture and architecture with the devious ingenuity of a “bricoleur”, diverting the everyday furniture of the world for new and unlikely ends. In the tradition of Arte Povera, the artist makes use of readily available materials, bric-a-brac, remainders and leftovers found in his studio and elsewhere. His installations draw on DIY techniques and the aesthetics of old consumer catalogues and flea market displays (including that digital flea market Ebay), and frequently find inspiration in chance encounters and discoveries. Lying behind Wambacq’s multiform objects are different stories or subtle sociological commentaries, which add another dimension to their intrinsic aesthetic quality. Two important aspects of Wambacq’s practice that must also be mentioned. The first is his wry, satirical sense of humor, revealed in pieces wonderfully absurd, as if the farming machine had popped a wheelie and found itself planted against the wall of a barn, thus becoming an “accidental” readymade sculpture. Another concern is highlighted equally in his works: the exhibition context and more generally, the physical and ideological framework in which things become visible. Described by the artist himself as “showing the plinth not the object”, these interventions reveal in a rigorously post-Duchampian fashion, the architectural infrastructure of the gallery space and the conditions for mounting an exhibition.

Aaron Schuster