Neïl Beloufa | Cans on Brown, 2019 | max goelitz

2019

Medium

MDF, synthetic leather, steel, electric hardware and electric plug

Dimensions

70 × 50 cm

Status

In Gallery Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-155853

Neïl Beloufa's relief-like wall piece Cans on Brown (2019) from the Vintage series is an interplay of the most diverse forms and materials. In addition to a curving, organic leather structure reminiscent of a hand or glove, there are, as the title suggests, crushed beverage cans arranged on a sand-colored wooden background. The cans are testimonies to the presence of people and our consumer behavior in a globalized world. Not only the consumption of goods, but also media consumption becomes visible here. Conspicuously embedded in the stainless-steel base is a socket that promises access to electricity and thus, in the digital age, the connection to media and permanent availability. As multi-layered and paradoxical as this may seem, Beloufa's art serves not only in the figurative sense of networking, but concretely as an invitation to actively connect mobile devices to the electric circuit. Beloufa, who often uses materials and techniques in his works that contain visible technological components, he juxtaposes the technical aspects with the conspicuous material mix of wood, leather and metal. The combination of electricity, paired with the roughly worked wooden surface and the soft, curved leather, creates a dramatic composition that culminates in the clash of these contrasting materials and, together with the relief-like structure of the boxes, creates a relief that is literally full of tension.