Art Truc Troc & Design 2018 opens to an electric start

January 26th marked the beginning of Art Truc Troc & Design‘s exhibition in Bozar. Opening for keen enthusiasts and members of the press, the museum had its vast halls covered with all mediums of arts and designs – as well as a whole room for this year’s focus, body art.

The journey through the exhibition takes you through all the halls housing the works. Starting off with the theme of this year – body art – the first room throws you straight into the mix with bold pictures of cultural icons covered head to toe in tribal tattoos – there is even a remastered renaissance painting of a tattooed Jesus Christ on the cross.

The exhibition then proceeds into an eclectic mix of abstract, sculpture, photography and collage. Being a delightful way to keep you entertained and expose you to works outside your usual taste. With social commentary reoccurring as a common theme throughout many pieces.

A nice addition was that many of the artists were on hand, standing by their works, keen to tell you more about their process, ideas and any nuanced meaning you wanted to hear about the art. One such artist was Marie-André Beeckmans, with her collaborative piece, Les Voyageurs. “ I had the idea for the piece when I had made one mould and saw how sombre it looked. I then made more, placed them together, and saw similarities of the way they grouped together and the way we often see huddled refugees in the media.

The exhibition made good on the design aspect too. A whole room of stylised lamps, oblong mirrors, sofas and deco chairs all stood on a platform in the centre of a large room, encouraging those to view the aspects of the designs from all angles. Ikea even had a collaboration piece where tattooists would decorate the blank sofas with intricate and stunning patterns.

With such a fulfilling exhibition already, the body art segment had a big task to keep up the excitement, but unfortunately, this is where the exhibition fell short. It felt a bit meagre in comparison to all the other segments, especially since it was the focus. However, there was still a nice presence of tattooist exhibiting their designs, some body painting and even a mystery box where people could stick their limbs in and receive a mystery stick-on tattoo.

There were even tattoo beds present, so maybe they may up the anti of the body art part of the exhibition later on. But despite this small setback, Art Truc Troc & Design 2018 kicked off to an amazing start with a beautiful cohesion of art and design. Some art was more esoteric than others and may leave the casual art viewer a bit puzzled, but with such a huge variety of styles, there is sure to be something for all predilections and tastes.

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