< Chris Brans >
Their approach
Maarten Bel
Chris Brans
Summarized, edited text by Eef Schoolmeesters
For this project, Maarten has focused on his February book. Since graduation in 2011 he creates a book every single month with his observations, in thoughts and ideas. These books function as the source for most of his work. Often these observations are quite fleeting and they reveal some of our daily structures and patterns, and therefore represent something large(r) - but it's the recognizability of these situations that make them valuable for Maarten. They make a beautiful source of ingredients.
In Maarten's last book, his research was about exposing the deeper meaning of those images and define the underlying theme's. The collective behavior of people and Reviewing the worth of knowledge in a different perspective, seemed to be returning issues in his book.
To him it could prove valuable to work more often within these limits to become more aware of his 'set' ways to present his work and ideas, to make sure all the 'ingredients' reach the viewer the best possible way. To become intuitively selectively stronger in the observations he analyses, and to review his methods to use those: in conversations, performances, or....
Summarized, edited text by Eef Schoolmeesters
Usually, Chris makes his work at once, and often with óne kind of decor involved - therefore it seemed like fun to make a work that took the whole week to create; a stretched joke consisting of seven acts (yet he miscalculated).
It needed a beginning, an end and in between six moments of change. Every day he thought about what needed to be done, or he just let something happen more impulsively, all on the same piece of paper. Chris was a little worried it'd turn out like a (bad) pun, but he prevented that from happening in creating a visual story, keeping you curious about what would happen next.
Overall, all the drawings became an autonomous series, with the documentation and context as part of the final piece - the remnant.