Jacques Charlier
(c)image: M HKA
Dessins Humoristiques (André Cadéré), 1975
In the Sixties and Seventies, Jacques Charlier makes a series of caricatures and comic strips parodying the world of art. Not accidentally, he chooses popular mediums that do not really fit into 'Art with a capital A', namely the comic strip and the caricature, to express his views on an art milieu that often takes itself so seriously. He ridicules the pretention of many artists and the theories constructed and promoted within these circles. In this series, various figures are given a good going over: artists Dan Graham, Daniel Buren and André Cadéré, gallery owners Fernand Spillemaeckers and Elisabeth Rona, critic Jean-Pierre Van Tieghem and Karel Geirlandt, the former director of the Association for Exhibitions at Brussels' Paleis voor Schone Kunsten. The drawings are mainly for the delectation of the 'inaugurated', for those in the know about the art world and the figures who play a role there. The more the viewer is in touch with the art scene, the more he or she can appreciate the layerdness of Charlier's work here.