_{Image courtesy of Valerie Decleer}

Interview: Valerie Decleer

Luca Curci talks with Valerie Decleer during LIQUID ROOMS – THE LABYRINTH in Venice.
Valerie Decleer was born in 1976 in Ostend (Belgium). Her work is an act of creating intimate connections – an effort to reflect the exhaustive wandering through the labyrinth of one’s mind, prisoned by embodiment. Her work has been showcased nationally and internationally. She works currently as a designer, illustrator, photographer and artist. Her work has been described as a mix of emotions aching towards mysterious inner creativity to survive.

_{Image courtesy of Valerie Decleer}

Luca Curci – What’s your background? What is the experience that has influenced your work the most?

Valerie Decleer – Being surrounded by my parents, both stimulating and inspiring me through their knowledge and passion for art. The light, shadows, colours of my childhood influence my art immensely. I had the privilege of growing up on a tropical island, experiencing different social cultures all around the world; breathing industrial consequences and objectifying political confluence in modern, digitalized, society.

_{Image courtesy of Valerie Decleer}

L.C. – What art themes do you pursue? What are your preferred subjects if any?

V.D. – Nature and the human body are probably my most favourite subjects. But as I am always expanding my horizons I see everything around me as a subject of art. We are living exiting times where art and digitalization are colliding, immersive experiences are becoming reality, colliding physical and digital worlds, searching and redefining ‘interoperable’ identities and borderless communication in a way that languages are irrelevant.

_{Image courtesy of Valerie Decleer}

L.C. – What is the most challenging part about creating your artworks?

V.D – The process itself is the most challenging. Projecting my own feelings and making my art come to life. Walking the line between coincidence and self-conscious manipulation.

L.C. – What do you think about the concept of this festival? In which way did it inspire you?

V.D. – Bringing people and artists together in a defined context is always inspiring. The concept of the festival surrounds the artists and provides a way to isolate subjects in colliding dimensions. Exchanging thoughts and new ideas are at the core of the energetic source driving an artist on his, plausibly lonely, path.

_{Image courtesy of Valerie Decleer}

L.C. – What role does the artist have in society? And the art?

V.D. – Art is culture. Culture is one of the fundaments of our society. An artist creates the bridges in modern society, and records for future generations. Art reaches out to touch people and to provide them with reflections at a moment in time. An artist is the cornerstone of society, living mainly in the shadows, sometimes fighting demons, in order to guide the many facts of life traversing reckless time.

_{Image courtesy of Valerie Decleer}

L.C. – What’s the art tip you usually receive? Do visitors’ suggestions enrich yourself and your art?

V.D. – Sure, every comment may lead to a new direction or it might give me the stubbornness to proceed my own way. Visitor’s suggestions are mutually influencing my art on a daily base. It intrigues me to unlock ‘emotions’ through my work and to notice the energy looping through to the surrounding subjective environment. Steeling time can be the opening to something totally new, and as an artist I want to contribute to human nature. Provide people with means to reflect, to understand, to inhale colours, to scent, to escape for a moment. As an artist, I’m a director of feelings people pre/tend to ignore.

_{Image courtesy of Valerie Decleer}

L.C. – What are you currently working on?

V.D. – My newest photographic project is: LUCENT CUTANEOUS COVERINGS – HUNGER FOR SKIN. Owing to smaller household sizes, greater migration, higher media consumption, and longer life expectancy, people today are more corporally isolated than at any other time in human history. Just like we crave food when we are hungry, and crave sleep when we are tired, so we crave touch when we are lonely, for to be lonely is to be vulnerable. Our libido can be assuaged with our hand in a way that our craving for touch cannot: many people who think they are hungry for sex are in fact hungry for skin.The project is still in progress but some are already published on my homepage: www.decleer.art. I am also painting a new series: LIFT NOT THE PAINTED VEIL. The series ‘Lift not the painted veil’ is about the facade we pretend is true. The truth which remains hidden unless uncovered, instead of seeking a more authentic life. The veil between fear and hope, life and death, love and hate. An inevitable struggle moving boundaries. By clicking on the link below you can view part of the series: https://www.decleer.art/copy-of-2018-lift-not-the-painted-v 

_{Image courtesy of Valerie Decleer}

L.C. – There’s a lot of artwork on the market today, how do you differentiate yours from the rest?

V.D. – Being unique as a person and putting my heart and my passion in my art! I tend to visualize what people are not seeing immediately, profound emotions, pure and without doubt. I want to touch people in a way that they can unlock their inner emotions. Sometimes they can feel understood or guided and it is my goal to be present and absent at the same.

L.C. – Did you feel comfortable cooperating with us?

V.D. – It was an exciting enriching experience, I would do it again in the blink of an eye! The environment and the effort done by the group was what I expected it to be. It would have been nice if we could have made it on time for the opening, unfortunately this was not the case, but I’ll be looking forward in the future to meet and collaborate again.

_{Image courtesy of Valerie Decleer}

L.C. – Do you think ITSLIQUID GROUP can represent an opportunity for artists?

V.D. – It was a huge opportunity for me, having an exhibition in Venice in an astonishing palace, it obviously has put my art photography in the spotlight! As an artist I’m proud to cooperate and to be part of what you are standing for, and this in a global context. I could imagine working with ‘itsliquid’ in the future!

more. www.decleer.art