Jimmy Kets
Shot in Flanders
Opening May 6th 7 pm in presence of the artist
6 may - 5 june

I have been fascinated by American culture for a very long time, but for some time I wanted to make something in Flanders. So I started to drive around without any particular goal , making pictures and finding the most interesting angle. After some time, I noticed how much American influences are present in Flanders. It was somehow sad but also very human . All these American symbols , had something surreal about them. It made me thing of Disneyland : all seems perfect, but still you find out that all turns out to be fake. The moment when then dreamworld becomes reality is what interest me most.

Where did you find all these Americana ?

My view is : we are living our lives without any purpose , how we deal with that issue is what my work is about. To survive, you have no choice, you have to adapt yourself to the system. So we do sometimes crazy things, just for a moment, to escape from our reality. And the way people construct this alternative reality interests me very much.

Which techniques do you use to look at this alternative reality ?

I do not construct my images , I do not position any objects or move them. You see the reality as it is. I do use a lot of flash which is for me a tool to delete the glamour of some images. When I construct my images, I also tend to avoid faces, I find them to distract us too much of the essence of the images.