Rudi Bogaerts

The discrepancy between what is seen and what is not, between the image and the message, between what a thing is in itself and how it is shown, depicted, the counterpoise between the original concept and how that concept is translated, how it is read by the outside world: this is a leitmotiv running through the work of Rudi Bogaerts. An image after all is positioned in the paper-thin space between truth and lies, between revelation and concealment, between dream and reality, between action and contemplation, between the arousal of desire and the "ultimate" gratification. The context in which the image becomes public is crucial. The manner in which an image (more specifically a photograph) is read and interpreted is a constant, skulking, lurking presence in all Bogaerts' work.

The computer - where he draws and edits movies - is his medium: he uses it mostly as a link between photography and painting. The manipulation and reproduction of existing images starts digital but the result is usually a four-color gum-bichromate.

Taking existing photographs and images from archives and the internet as his point of departure, he investigates the significance for the interpretation of an image of the context in which it functions and is presented.

He dismantles and decontextualises the image, metamorphosing its burden of content so that a new narrative structure, a metalanguage even, emerges at a different level to the original.

Bogaerts tries to discover his own vocabulary, ensuring that we do not forget the things that are hidden.

(Inge Braeckman)