In the back space of the gallery,
Atelier van Lieshout is showing new works such as weapons, a distiller and a
tree cutting machine. All are from the series AVL – Ville. Also tough and
confident but certainly not without the usual AVL ironic wink, the weapons
bring the (myth of) the Wild West to The Netherlands. At the same time though
these works are not all irony nor are they simply taunting.
AVL’s ‘sculptures’ have always been
preoccupied with power and aggression and sex and food and shelter, all basic
human necessities and impulses. The works shown in Galerie Fons Welters are a
continuation of this fiery drive.
AVL – Ville is planned as a
self-sufficient village, a kind of ‘free state’, which will be built in
Rotterdam in the near future. These objects, which will later become part of
AVL – Ville, form a ‘reflection of today’s society’, a playful response to the
idea that the fittest will survive. And a confrontational, yet not wholly
comical, nudge at the idea self-sufficiency.
