JAN PYPERS

These are places where silence and stillness set the tone. However, the daily routine in the works of the Belgian artist Jan Pypers (b. 1982) also has considerable tension, despite its static nature. Within the desolate silence of Pypers’ compositions, there is space for questioning, memory and your own imagination. Is something about to happen? Logic is missing before our voyeurism sets in. With his background in film, Pypers approaches his images with a keen cinematographic eye, and this is in line with the work of the greatest cinematographic masters of now and then.

The decor in Pypers’ sculptures is a place where nature and people interact: where figures are in the woods, surrounded by water, or accompanied by an animal. The relationship between man and nature plays a major role in this work. It is surprising, but these forests, waters, animals, and the cinematic image in which they appear in reality show a scale model carefully built by the artist, which he provides with digital post-processing.

Much like the works of Pypers, many of our memories are carried by their vivid details. Alienated and at a distance, we watch, filling in the gaps of the incomplete story with our imagination. Like weaving together the most curious elements from a dream, of which only the details remain.

Retaining total control, Pypers uses his models and digital skills to determine aspects such as light, perspective and atmosphere down to the smallest detail, after which he destroys the model, and the photo is the only final result.

Pypers’ work tells a story, but also invites the viewer to fill in parts for themselves. No one notices. Only the fox, which feels like a voyeur.