Vesna Faassen & Lukas Verdijk

2014 ‘From Deep Umber to Floral White’

The work of artist duo Vesna Faassen (Arnhem, NL, 1986) and Lukas Verdijk (Boxmeer, NL, 1984) is focused on the complexities of multicultural societies and on geographical and racial disparities. Their artistic practice is charged with socio-political messages and manifests as photographs, films and performances that are not afraid of controversy. One example of this is the film Welkom, Welcome, Bienvenue, Willkommen (2013), in which Faassen and Verdijk escort a group of illegal immigrants on a tourist train ride through a rainy Antwerp. The result is a sharp, absurdist “road trip” in which the lack of suspense creates the underlying tension.

In another film, we watch a few African men set up a tent in a field with the Schelde river and the Antwerp skyline in the background. Faassen and Verdijk are aware of the deep-seated prejudices that mean that many of us have difficulty perceiving these people as campers. At the end of the film, the tent is erected and in the background an immense cruise liner, the Europa 2, departs for unknown destinations.

Spray Tan (2014) consists of two self-portraits in which the artists have had themselves sprayed with a tanning agent. The spray comes in three shades: light, medium and dark. Faassen and Verdijk chose dark. White people go to great lengths to appear bronzed as this equates to wealth and beauty, while black people use bleaching soaps to achieve the exact opposite result for the same reasons. The interpretation of the exact same brown shade is therefore dependent on context. It is on this ambiguous crossroad that Faassen and Verdijk like to position their art.

 

Bert DANCKAERT