annouk thys
gent, belgium
Annouk Thys in her studio in Gent, looking at her work entitled Portrait.
Annouk Thys, Wanderfall VI, 2016
Annouk Thys, Wanderfall IV-5, 2016
These are confusing times. I know I am in a privileged position. I am at home and, because I don't have to go to work, I can now go to my studio more often. In the beginning I wondered how I could be of significance, to others, in healthcare. Can I use this time for me? It made me restless. I didn't know where to start. Now I realize that what I do is what I can contribute. It is the best I can do.
Meanwhile, a silence seems to be developing within the silence.
On the one hand, the silence that feels awkward when you are outside: few people, few physical contacts, disorienting. And on the other, the silence within me that feels natural, and takes me away from the media, or being outside. A silence that cuts, because I know I need what’s outside, as well.
At the moment I’m working on projects that were already in prospect, even though I don't know if any of them can go ahead. There is more time for research, looking, photos, watching films…and these open up new possibilities for approaching my work from a completely new medium.
Experiment is important in my work. I bring together different materials—both ceramic and others—as a way of investigating how they interact. An interaction that initially arises as “self-forming.” Different layers of materials are brought together and each finds its way. This process of transformation is a way of finding new possibilities within a material. Gravity, time and space also have an influence. This interplay of experiment, creation and chance—making processes tangible and showing what usually remains invisible—is what challenges me and creates new forms. It is here, for me, that meaning arises.
during the lockdown, Annouk thys has been continuing her experiments with glaze and other essential ceramic materials, and developing new work for a forthcoming exhibition
“Layering glazes, landscapes, islands, be taken by the eye to disappearance…”
Annouk Thys. “I like the work like this, hanging on a wall, with the wooden stick under tension to keep it up.”
Annouk Thys, The small in the big, the big in the small, 2020. “I like the landscapes that show up in my atelier.”
Annouk Thys, part of a diptych for an exhibition taking place in Summer 2020. Porcelain and molochite.
Annouk Thys, Looking for White, 2019. “A work where gravity was important, thick layers of glaze causing the clay parts to slide.”