Gert Verhoeven

Gert Verhoeven (Leuven, 1964) has a strong interest in his work for everything that has anything to do with (pseudo) classification and (quasi) groupings. The status and value of an object is after all largely deduced from its place within a certain system. The activity of an artist is to create objects that in their turn also end up in a social system from which they borrow their value. This aspect gets a surrealistic twist with Verhoevens project on the culture of pumpkins or the series of works around the idea of the copyright. In these last series the copyright sign becomes independent as an object. Especially the personification of an object, in which Verhoeven is highly influenced by Magritte, forms an important issue within his oeuvre. After all every object tells a story and therefore leads a life of its own. The narrative is self-evidently also quite important for Verhoeven.

Verhoeven develops an installation for MDD which will largely involve the collection of the museum. Each collection is, after all, subject to classification: there are paintings and sculptures that in turn can be subdivided into portraits, landscapes, still lives and so on. The museum itself is also subject to classification. It is for instance a regionally acknowledged museum that is strongly anchored in local history. The tie with the local is developed by Verhoeven in a sound tape for his installation in which the classification of language in diverse dialects is made apparent.

Gert Verhoeven
A Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens Deurle Exhibition
Kurator: Edith Doove