IModify
Dare to eat different
My inspiration for the creation of these sculptures was based on two factors:
1 When ‘genetic modification’ became an issue, I was inspired.
I had no idea that the industry behind the agricultural sector was so busy genetically modifying seeds in order to produce better crops.
I hadn’t really given it any thought.
Unfortunately, only the scandals make the news.
My initial reaction was to believe every alarmist article that was published.
Now that I am better informed, I see the many different sides of the story.
I am fascinated by its dimension, complexity, potential, and usefulness; by its impact on our health, the shortage of food, global production, etc.
The subject has been on my mind to such an extent that I was stimulated to express myself as an artist.
2 The wide range of cookery programmes on television. "I'd see them when flipping through channels but they never held my interest... until I started to wonder why juggling with food fascinates people so much."
I saw a parallel between creating, combining and trying out, and it all came to together.
I’m not a great cook myself, but as a sculptor I felt like one when I was working on these objects, discovering the various ways in which different worlds can be combined: just like a cook plays with the individual ingredients in his dishes.
I’m still bubbling inside, there are still so many fun combinations to discover: I’m not done yet, not by a long shot!
It’s endless.
It’s creative.
It’s fascinating.
With my work, I hope to stimulate curiosity, creativity and inventiveness, in a playful and humoristic manner.
I want to confront people with something unreal, and prompt them to start thinking.
What does this subject do with me?
What do I want to do about it?
What fun it would be for me to start experimenting!
IModify is a series of conceptual pieces of art.
Over the past three years, I have created 17 powerful objects that combine plants and animals in an amazing way. By re-using natural items such as wood, skin, fur, coral, shells, insects, antlers, etc., they now form a beautiful, sustainable collection of “modified vegetables and fruit”.