CAMO – The exhibition
Last week the ‘CAMO’ exhibition opened its doors at H.O.T.FOX Gallery in Antwerp, for those who didn’t see it, an overview. The theme and starting point for both artists is camouflage, but the more important subject is creating a conversation between graphic design and art. It’s about how the artists deal with the given theme, each in their very own way. While Vincent Vrints uses the tools of the graphic designer, Benny Van den Meulengracht-Vrancx deals with the matter as an autonomous artist. By placing these two together in an exhibition space, we’re also trying to discuss the place of graphic design today. Vincent Vrints starts from camouflage in the present day, as a visual representation of a certain culture, be it military or urban. As a result he created non-functional graphic posters which can be viewed as overworked, flashy representations of this culture. Camouflage for him is an extremely rich source of visual inspiration that he moulds into something of himself. Benny Van den Meulengracht-Vrancx starts where camouflage was first adopted by the military and where the first experiments, regarding camouflage were conducted by artists. Like a hunter’s camp or a soldier’s hide out, Benny created a camouflaged tent for the white, clean exhibition space. A tent where he himself can withdraw from the space and hide in plain sight.
