Klaas Rommelaere
DARK UNCLES
17.10-2021 / 16.01.2022 extended
"With a procession of gigantic doubles, Klaas Rommelaere pays tribute to all the people who influenced him. At 38CC, the work of this Flemish artist can be seen for the first time in the Netherlands. The gigantic dolls, Dark Uncles, refer to people from his immediate environment. Like the tapestries, banners and pillars shown, they are full of details embroidered in cross-stitches. Those details in turn refer to characters, memories and stories. Together they are 'a remedy against forgetting'. At the same time, Rommelaere also explores his own As a fashion student, Rommelaere consciously chose the visual arts. Initially he embroidered everything himself. Later he started working with a group of older ladies, his 'madams'. His absurd and bizarre scenes are therefore the result of collective cross-stitch, crochet and The Dark Uncles exhibition reads like a storyboard for a film, interweaving personal experiences and family histories with Rommelaere endlessly with elements from the Antwerp subculture, fragments from arthouse cinema, ethnic cultures and contemporary folklore. Ultimately, he builds a parallel world, a universe of his own. And he shows that he exists."
