Créons: precious pencils
Err, doubt, dig, act, run away, become... The image of Créons scratching his pencil tip amidst an excess of philosophical signposting speaks volumes. From the moment you enter the dilapidated Schaarbeek/Schaerbeek homes where his exhibition “Mine de rien” takes place, you are confronted with the anonymous artist’s internal battle. For however spontaneously and receptively his colourful pencils populate the Brussels street view, opposition to his batch of “illegal” crayons is sometimes extremely intractable. But whether his pencils brighten your day or ruin your view, at “Mine de rien” Créons offers you a glimpse of an astonishing universe with the same disarming militancy as he does on the street.
“Mine de rien” is the overwhelming result of no less than three months of self-exploration by the artist, who is so immersed in life that his work cannot but be life art, a simple response to a necessity. “Of course I constantly despair at my own incapacity, at the impossibility of ever accomplishing anything, of painting a valid, true picture or even knowing what such a thing ought to look like. But then I always have the hope that, if I persevere, it might one day happen,” runs the quote by Gerhard Richter printed on one of the walls. Fame changes nothing about man’s soul. Doubt is inherent to us, sublunary folk.
But however doubtful, luckily Créons has a firm voice as well. “Mine de rien” alternates between tormented paintings, hilarious interventions on existing photographs and paintings (by Ensor, Toulouse-Lautrec, and many others), life-sized sculptures, ambiguous views inside the artist’s head and studio, while on the walls there are running and jumping pencils that untameably search for their own space, for a family – which they find under their brothers who also reside in one of the many rooms of this Wonderland – and the way out, to the streets.
Perhaps that is the key to the whole thing: just like the city, art is also able to lend a hand in the quest for an identity – however versatile, colourful, rebellious, and recalcitrant it may be. You can err, doubt, dig, act, run away, and become whatever you like. All while having a blast – no wonder Manu Larcenet’s Polza Mancini (the imposing main character of his four-part comic strip Blast, who deliberately seeks a spot for himself in the margins of society) movingly agrees in the cellar. The world is at your fingertips. The city is you, and art is life. It’s a precious thought these days.
CRÉONS: MINE DE RIEN > 26/10, wo/me/We & w-e 14 > 18.00, gratis/gratuit/free, rue Van Hoordestraat 33, Schaarbeek/Schaerbeek, creons-minederien.tumblr.com
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