From 2 February to 19 May 2024, WIELS presents an ambitious large-scale survey exhibition of the work of Jef Geys, titled ‘You don’t see what you think you see' in Brussels. With this presentation of over 200 objects and documents, accompanied by the first survey publication of the artist’s work, WIELS wants to contribute to art historical research on Jef Geys, aswell as to the understanding and appreciation of the artist and his multifaceted practice for local and international audiences.
Art critics commonly describe Jef Geys’ work as “unruly, and impossible to categorize in conventional art-historical categories.” Despite Geys’ subversive and critical attitude towards the art world, the exhibition at WIELS shows that his work is not only deeply engaged and socially critical, but also funny and sensory.
As Geys writes in 1991, “Is what one sees really what one thinks one sees? And what can one do with what one sees?” Our perception of things is shaped by assumptions, beliefs and habits, which in turn are influenced by education, mainstream media and advertising. Always critical of image and language, Geysaims to expose “the hidden, what one thinks one sees,” and encourages self-reflection and scepticism. This aim is the starting point of this survey of Geys’ heterogeneous work, enriched by previously unpublished and exceptional documents from the artist's archives.
From the early 1960s, Jef Geys compiled an archive, with the titles of everything he considered part of his artistic practice on his List of Works as its index. With a total of 844 entries, the List of Works opens with photographs and drawings from Geys’ school days at the Brothers of Charity, followed by a wide range of creative projects spanning six decades of artistic practice. Avant-garde drawings and paintings, lacquered puppets, sensual fruit reliefs, performances and actions, conceptual photography, ‘open’ texts, and instructional films all make the list. But so do Geys’ observations of a first-time cyclist, his botanical studies for self-medication, his novel methods of teaching his students, as well as the local community meetings for direct democracy he helped to organise. Jef Geys List of Works clearly demonstrates his versatility and broader interests as an artist, and as a precursor of interdisciplinary practice by integrating other disciplines such as biology, architecture, sociology, and anthropology within visual arts.
