BASE-ALPHA GALLERY

LIEVEN SEGERS

Lieven Segers likes to surprise himself. The artist typically seeks out situations or concepts where part of the outcome is left to coincidence, or to the interventions of others. The results are drawings (with images or words), publications, editions, sculptures, installations, performances, actions, collaborations, or a combination of all this. 

Art is a crossroads of interesting meetings, dialogues, triggers, external influence and input from daily life. A good artist, in Segers’ mind, is someone who makes up a balance: where are we in life? How is the (art) world doing? He thrives on the city’s (Antwerp’s) continuous flow, dynamic movement and accidental interactions; be they convivial or conflictuous. Urban society is full of flaws and failures, imperfections and incidents; all very human qualities. It is with a love for these small tragedies, with high regard for our shared daily banalities, that he creates conceptual frameworks in which to act or show. 

In many ways Segers challenges the conventions of the (commercial) art world. His work is ephemeral, coincidental, collaborative. He isn’t interested in aesthetic beauty. In fact, his work often purposefully explores the ‘ugly’ (drunkenness, silliness) – which can often be the consequence of a beautiful, good time spent with people one loves. He often creates accessible and affordable editions and publications, leaving his work open to the public in a very generous, by no means self-centered way. This also goes for his many collaborations with fellow artists: the idea of creating a momentum, making something happen, sharing an experience is what drives his art. 

Quotes, phrases, doodles, concepts; the spontaneous and serendipitous nature of Segers’ practice in general is directly linked to his personality and his own daily life. It is an homage to all the small, seemingly insignificant incidents and encounters that, however, can carry much meaning and beauty in the course of a lifetime. They often – and in times of a sanitary crisis this becomes all too clear – provide a certain dynamic, an energetic inspiration upon which to thrive.

Tamara Beheydt