Jérôme Sans - :mentalKLINIK - Obnoxiously Happy

:mentalKLINIK - Obnoxiously Happy
La Patinoire Royale, Galerie Valérie Bach, Bruxelles

Exhibitions Curator

The oxymoron (the figure of speech which associates two terms which exclude each other) is the central focus of their work; not only through the text, such as the title of the exhibition, but also through the style in which these artists shamelessly set back to back references to conceptual art, minimalism and the pop universe, as well as entertainment. OBNOXIOUSLY HAPPY questions the fantasies linked to happiness and optimism advocated in the contemporary capitalist culture of the cult of success. For :mentalKLINIK, the oxymorons “reveal a deep duality in our world and the complex feelings that people are usually unable to express.” Screaming out using La Patinoire Royale, its role as an intensifier of the experience, in a world more than ever dominated by language. They mix paradoxes and humor, playing with current issues. The duo straddles with undisguised dexterity the invisible political strategies and the social dynamics with ultracontemporary devices of an obvious lightness and simplicity. The exhibition convenes—in no chronological order—all of their playful, violent and abrasive vocabulary that continuously twists glamor, rock or post-punk references. It is a whole work of encryption to which these artists summon us, between the true and the false, the artificial and superficial, as if everything were a matter of falsification. 
 
:mentalKLINIK speaks about the manipulation of individuals through their magical and hypnotic atmosphere, the visual saturation of incessantly flowing images and words in an era of new technologies and social networks. A flow without beginning or end. The positive, ultra-addictive energy that emanates from the works carries us away at first, but behind this attractive, electric and glamorous façade, there appears another world of far more disturbing meanings. Artists reappropriate the sparkling and authoritative visual language of the media and night spheres in a climate of sensory hyperstimulation generated by the multiple neon signs, slogans, light beams, mirror balls and confetti that make the exhibition space vibrate. We project in an indecisive atmosphere and context. Is it before or after the evening that we are located?
 
The duo continually creates new aesthetic forms in heterogeneous materials by playing on our unanimous attraction to glittering and seductive objects, which, through the magic of commodity fetishism, making their appearance as robotic vacuum cleaners spitting glitter, deflated toys that become masks, magazine covers hijacked by emojis, headlines, neon lights or reflective surfaces that catch our eye, rocking and flattening the space and inevitably integrating the viewer. To start, this game requires several players and the KLINIK interacts with a minimalist ideology and series. Impossible to escape from it.
So, are you ready?

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Jérôme Sans - mentakLINIK_QUINN_OBNOXIOUSLY HAPPY Galerie La Patinoire Royale, Valérie Bach

:mentalKLINIK, PUFF OUT,  2017,
4 vacuum cleaning robots and glitter Robots: 34 cm diameter and 6 cm thickness, Glitter: variable 

Courtesy of Gallery Isabelle Van Den Eynde, Dubai

Jérôme Sans - mentakLINIK_OBNOXIOUSLY HAPPY Galerie La Patinoire Royale, Valérie Bach

:mentalKLINIK , OBNOXIOUSLY HAPPY, 2018. Installation View,
Courtesy of La Patinoire Royale, Brussels 
© Photo:  HV Studio

Jérôme Sans - mentakLINIK, DISASTROUSLY BRILLIANT, OBNOXIOUSLY HAPPY Galerie La Patinoire Royale, Valérie Bach

:mentalKLINIK, DISASTROUSLY BRILLIANT, 2018
. Vinyl EFX Metal Flake Silver, 42x784cm. Site Specific, Dimensions Variable. Courtesy of La Patinoire Royale, Brussels 
© Photo:  HV Studio

Jérôme Sans - mentakLINIK_OBNOXIOUSLY HAPPY Galerie La Patinoire Royale, Valérie Bach

:mentalKLINIK, OBNOXIOUSLY HAPPY, 2018. Installation View
. Courtesy of La Patinoire Royale, Brussels 
© Photo:  HV Studio

Jérôme Sans - mentakLINIK_OBNOXIOUSLY HAPPY Galerie La Patinoire Royale, Valérie Bach

:mentalKLINIK, OBNOXIOUSLY HAPPY, 2018. Installation View
Courtesy of La Patinoire Royale, Brussels 
© Photo:  HV Studio

Jérôme Sans - mentakLINIK_OBNOXIOUSLY HAPPY Galerie La Patinoire Royale, Valérie Bach

:mentalKLINIK, OBNOXIOUSLY HAPPY, 2018. Installation View
. Courtesy of La Patinoire Royale, Brussels 
© Photo:  HV Studio

Jérôme Sans - mentakLINIK_QUINN_OBNOXIOUSLY HAPPY Galerie La Patinoire Royale, Valérie Bachjpg

:mentalKLINIK . QUINN, Profile series, 2014. ULTRA NATIONALIST_HIPSTER_GIRLY_GOTHIC_ECO CONSCIOUS_BARFLY_BUZZER_TECHNO NERD. Tempered glass, micro-layered polyester Films, unique. Courtesy of mentalKLINIK © Photo : Reha Arcan

Jérôme Sans - mentakLINIK_Chromatic Madness, OBNOXIOUSLY HAPPY Galerie La Patinoire Royale, Valérie Bach

:mentalKLINIK. Chromatic Madness (detail), 2018. Cotton paper and dichroic micro-layered polyester, solor film unique

:mentalKLINIK, PUFF OUT,  2017,
4 vacuum cleaning robots and glitter Robots: 34 cm diameter and 6 cm thickness, Glitter: variable 

Courtesy of Gallery Isabelle Van Den Eynde, Dubai

:mentalKLINIK , OBNOXIOUSLY HAPPY, 2018. Installation View,
Courtesy of La Patinoire Royale, Brussels 
© Photo:  HV Studio

:mentalKLINIK, DISASTROUSLY BRILLIANT, 2018
. Vinyl EFX Metal Flake Silver, 42x784cm. Site Specific, Dimensions Variable. Courtesy of La Patinoire Royale, Brussels 
© Photo:  HV Studio

:mentalKLINIK, OBNOXIOUSLY HAPPY, 2018. Installation View
. Courtesy of La Patinoire Royale, Brussels 
© Photo:  HV Studio

:mentalKLINIK, OBNOXIOUSLY HAPPY, 2018. Installation View
Courtesy of La Patinoire Royale, Brussels 
© Photo:  HV Studio

:mentalKLINIK, OBNOXIOUSLY HAPPY, 2018. Installation View
. Courtesy of La Patinoire Royale, Brussels 
© Photo:  HV Studio

:mentalKLINIK . QUINN, Profile series, 2014. ULTRA NATIONALIST_HIPSTER_GIRLY_GOTHIC_ECO CONSCIOUS_BARFLY_BUZZER_TECHNO NERD. Tempered glass, micro-layered polyester Films, unique. Courtesy of mentalKLINIK © Photo : Reha Arcan

:mentalKLINIK. Chromatic Madness (detail), 2018. Cotton paper and dichroic micro-layered polyester, solor film unique

See also :
Jérôme Sans - :mentalKLINIK - That's fucking awesome

:mentalKLINIK - That's fucking awesome

By Jérôme Sans
Jérôme Sans - Obnoxiously Happy

Obnoxiously Happy

by Jérôme Sans