Light

“Light”

21 September,2024--27 October,2024

Project Space, TANK Shanghai, Shanghai, China

TANK Shanghai is pleased to present “Light”, Thomas Lerooy’s solo exhibition. The exhibition opens on September 21, 2024 and runs through October 27,2024.

The arched project space of TANK, with its industrial architectural features, serves as the setting for Belgian artist Thomas Lerooy's exhibition on the theme of "Light". This site-specific installation invites visitors to engage in two ways: to approach it gradually from the outside, or to examine the intricate details of the paintings up close, experiencing the contrasting qualities of 'light' at both macro and micro levels, and within natural and urban landscapes. Seven small paintings are rendered in vibrant colors and delicate brushstrokes. These works are placed within seven color circles - six in color and one in white - each symbolizing different facets of light. Their various combinations form two different color models commonly used in contemporary society - RGB and CMYK, representing digital screens and print respectively. Although it is impossible to fully capture or reproduce light, its manifestation - color - is constantly being mixed, expressed and recreated by humans, yet the circles remain distinct, like spotlights illuminating a wall.

Artist Thomas Lerooy is giving a guided tour for audience

Born in Roeselare, Belgium in 1981, Thomas Lerooy first gained recognition for his sculptural work. His recent solo exhibitions include Behind the Scenes (Royal Museums of Fine Arts, Brussels, Belgium); Vanity Fair (Castle of Gaasbeek, Belgium); Playground (Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Belgium); and Beauty in the Shadow of the Stars (Petit Palais, Paris, France). In his exploration into painting, Lerooy has drawn on the traditional techniques of classical painting and the compositional styles of Surrealism, exploring a balance between control and spontaneity, abstraction and figuration, while searching for his own artistic voice. In this exhibition, Lerooy encourages the viewer to prioritize sensation over interpretation, experiencing the shifting layers of time and flow through the medium of painting, ultimately leading to a deeper personal engagement. In this way, both painting and the theme of 'light' have provided the artist with similar sources of inspiration.

Installation view of exhibition

About the aritist

Thomas Lerooy, born in Roeselare in 1981, now lives and works in Brussels.

The oeuvre of Thomas Lerooy is characterized by an inherent duality: it attracts and repels at the same time, it is recognizable yet alienating, it is humorous and serious, intimate as well as grotesque. Whether Lerooy draws, sculpts or paints, he is always searching for the limits of his medium or his subject. His enigmatic works challenge the logic of the viewer and leave the interpretation to their imagination. He uses recognizable motifs that he maniplates and thus undermines. He investigates and breaks through the codes of painting, which manifests itself in a tension between abstraction and figuration, sharpness and haze, structure and smoothness. They are light-hearted and charged at the same time, and thus put themselves and the reality from which they arise into perspective.