Eline 't Sant is a Belgian contemporary graphic designer and painter, mostly mixed-media and assemblages. She frequently travels through the African and Asian continents which highly reflects in her work.
Eline 't Sant Website: http://www.elinetsant.be/
I’ve always been fascinated by anthropology and archaeology : the primitive state, the purity of materials, the essence of life. Throughout my many voyages I’ve been looking for new basic and raw materials. Elements out of the nomads’ daily life – red earth, blood, milk and cow dung – are either directly integrated into my works or hinted to by use of paint.
ABOUT HORNS, PARROTS AND COCKS…and many things related, as the title could go on, is a downright statement: there is something animistic about these works, a spell that lingers on and consumes itself, showing scars of a ritual past. I just initiate what the works have to finish off, bridging the relation between present and past, linking vital forces with the frailty of the objects I reanimate, using ancestral means of packing, and practising wrapping and preserving as if meant for an afterlife.
Parrots – shown here without characteristic features, without the flamboyant colours, the playfulness or the remarkable gift of speech which made so many artists use them as religious symbols or metaphors for man. Strange imagery that rises questions as to what is revealed when the still recognizable birds are mummified, stilled, shrouded, drained from all colour and gagged into eternal silence?
There are hints, such as the horns. But no different from the other images, assemblages or objects, they are not evident, rather the result of a creative process. Comparable to the noble traditions of death-rites in primitive societies, they too go beyond the visible and the tangible.
Indeed, there is more than meets the eye. Strange fossils is what they look like, the buffalo-horns that used to go by pair to defend mighty animals, now stripped to the bare essentials. They’re on their own, unique, without the weakness of what’s missing, not maimed by alienation that seems to be stressed by the growth that completes their deformity and refers to recollections of organic fabrics. Seems and joints made of basic material keep them together : the animal element on one side, lifelessly stiff, and a sequel, an aftermath on the other.Keeping balance between creation and resurrection.Insurrection – next to the second life given to the chosen recycled materials, the worn tissue and torn ligaments, there is an other life for the “parrots” - reminiscent of a distant past, protected as it were by the glass bells, catalogued and labelled. Rebellious, yes, as art is supposed to be, and challenging, resisting as the “cocks” who complete the triad. Obviously, they also serve, who only stand and wait.
Necropolis Installation
2008 - Assemblage, Installation - 200cmx60cm
Installation with 7 Parrots on metal operating table and light. Sounddesign: Heart-beat and breathing. Parrots are made of latex, fabric, clay, cotton, leather, bone, acrylic, natural pigments and paintings. Selection TEMPUS ARTI 2009
White Parrot view
2008 - assemblage - 46cmx13cm
Fabric, leather, clay, skin, bone, acrylic and natural pigments
Grey Parrot
2008 - Assemblage - 40cm x 13 cm
Fabric, pvc, acrylic, pigment, ash and clay
Blue Parrot detail
2008 - Assemblage - 66cmx16cm
Fabric, leather, clay, skin, bone, acrylic and natural pigments
Red Ngula Parrot- male
2009 - Assemblage - 66 cm x 15 xm
Fabric, clay, leather, Ngula pigment,acryl and rope
