April 3 - 23, 2010

In April 2010 the work of Ives Maes will be on view at void+, an experimental art space in Tokyo. Ives Maes is a contemporary artist based in Antwerp, Belgium. Although Maes uses various mixed media, his main medium of choice is photography.

This exhibition showcases a series of photographs from one of his most well-known projects, where Maes stages familiar characters from science fiction movies at world exposition sites. The world exposition can be seen as a global event promoting world peace through exhibitions of art, technology and science from participating countries. The world exposition brings a sense of anticipation of a positive future full of hope. This subject is contrasted with characters from science fiction movies, which tend to be critical of overdeveloped technology and science with themes that foresees the future as a metaphor of human tragedy.

Maes showcases this contradistinction with a unique perspective through his photographs of familiar scenes with extra-terrestrials or characters, which one may perceive as "peculiar" and / or "comical." If artists are agents of social absurdity and truth like prophets, then Ives Maes is definitely one such artist. This exhibition introduces photographs of the European exposition sites from his photography series.

More information:
www.voidplus.jp

Image: Ives Maes, Melosport (Expo '58: Evaluation of the World for a more Humane World, 1958) Duratrans on acrylic, lightbox, 100 x 125 cm, 2009