ABOUT Lou van't Riet

Lou van’t Riet grew up in Brussels where she studied design and architecture before leaving for her MFA in New York. Seduced by the city she will carry on living there until 2017; working for the Chamber Gallery and for the multidisciplinary artist Katie Stout.

These years allowed her to explore and enrich her network of artistic references through exhibitions, discussions with artist and art professionals. Through her work at the gallery, her personal wandering in museums, she started to observe closely the viewers attitude toward the exhibited works of art. She was struck by the distance that was existing between the viewer and the work. ‘Stand back’, ‘Do not touch’ are amongst the injunctions that keep the viewer at that distance, preventing him to engage in what the artist sees as an essential connection with the work.

Through her creations Lou aims to fill this growing distance between the viewer and the work and break the ‘Do not touch’ rule. Her idea is to create a different approach to art where the viewer is summoned to engage and even interfere physically with the work – allowing him to go beyond the traditional rules of an institution.

With that intention Lou created her triptychs. Wall sculptures where the viewer is invited to become an active part of the work by manipulating it. These triptychs are organized in three articulated panels, each of different shapes and colors that create different visual compositions each time they are activated. By opening or closing a side the viewer will choose his variant in the geometrical and visual configuration. May the triptychs be closed, completely or partially opened; they are an invitation to contemplation.

Astrid Malingreau