Location: Long Island City, New York, US
Coordinates: 40.7509°N 73.9411°W
Documented: July 6 2024
Artwork Details: New Earth (small brown iv), 2024, Magazine pages, paper pulp, waste insulation foam, and acrylic paint on ceramic tiles, 6 x 6 1/2 x 1 inches
This work is featured in the exhibition digital twin : Consumer Layers, a Digital Twin project. We ask you to slow down and look, to fight against our collective habit to swipe and scroll.
Slow down. Focus. View the work.
Artist Statement
‘Peel’ is my recent series of layered-paper collage on commercial tiles. I cut out imagery of models’ skin from mainstream magazines and layer it over and over with glue and acrylic paint to create a bas relief. I then sand, cut, and carve with sharp knives to reveal the deeper layers of paper and the shiny tiles beneath, uncovering strange patterns by breaking open the surface. I work with ceramic tiles for several reasons. They are part of my family’s history: my sister Elfriede was a mosaic artist, and my father collected a wide variety of tiles for her to work with. As a homage to them, I work with the collection of tiles they left behind after they both passed in 2015. Ceramic and marble tiles are also omnipresent as the architectural skin of public corridors and subway tunnels in New York City. On the old tunneled underground walls, over time complex images emerged by dirt and grime. They are repulsive and quite beautiful at once, suggestive of time passing and the complex layered society that is New York City. The title ‘Peel’ references my process of peeling away the surface in order to reveal what is underneath. In broader terms, to expose what is hidden includes openly acknowledging society’s injustices, examining our belief systems and biases, and as an individual peeling away the ego and the culturally conditioned mind. As in a memento mori, I reflect through my work on mortality and the vanity of life presented in the hyper-consumer world of today.
Hedwig Brouckaert is a Belgian-American artist living and working in Long Island City (NY) and Ghent, Belgium. Her work has appeared in exhibitions throughout the US and internationally, including ‘Re/pro/ducing Complexity’ curated by Peter Lodermeyer with work by Jorinde Voigt and Nelleke Beltjens at the Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens (BE) and the Städtische Galerie Villa Zanders (DE); exhibitions at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center (TH), VOLTA NY with Jan Dhaese Gallery, Pen+Brush (NY), Transmitter (NY), Kentler International Drawing Space (NY), Murray State University (KY), McGlothlin Center for the Arts at Emory & Henry College (VA), University of Ghent (BE), and Pallazo Vendramin Costa (Venice IT). Brouckaert has received grants from the Flemish Government in Belgium, from Café Royal Cultural Foundation; and fellowships including AIM of the Bronx Museum, LMCC Governors Island Art Center Residency, NYFA Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program, Rockefeller Foundation – Bellagio (IT), Liguria Study Center Bogliasco (IT), Cité Internationale des Arts Paris, Hafnarborg Museum of Iceland, Yaddo (NY), Anderson Ranch (CO), Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and FLACC (BE). Brouckaert’s work has been discussed in the Brooklyn Rail, the New York Times, Blackbook, ArtSpiel, Uncovered, Ante, the ArtCouch, and KunstHart (BE). She received an MFA from the University of California, Davis after completing a Masters in sculpture at the Sint-Lukas Hogeschool in Brussels, and a Postgraduate at the Higher Institute for Fine Arts in Belgium.
Digital Twin is a digital based project aimed at presenting a fresh perspective. It is artwork captured digitally in an original location, showcasing the interplay of light on surfaces, that alters the way art is experienced and opening the viewer up to novel ways of seeing. In this digital environment we ask the viewer to slow down and look, to fight against our collective habit to swipe and scroll.