ANDY WAUMAN

Born in 1975 in Belgium, Andy Wauman’s works speaks about the possibility of freedom. They are messages with a romantic sense for anarchy and love. In his statements, he often uses images that have been violated, multiplied and copied by commercial media. He recuperates common metaphors and symbols and gives them back their original romantic touch or even ideological meaning. The poetic quality is striking. Within an upcoming movement of new young artists using the language of the social context they grew up in, with the so-called popular culture and media as basic ingredients. Andy Wauman’s feeling for materials and authentic meaning is a marker.

In a personal statement, Wauman comments on the nature of his artistic personality:

“Generally my work has it’s origins in my conviction that a truly living culture can only arise from social structures and that the only theory a contemporary artist can feed on is necessarily a social one. I do not recycle existing forms, I try to make new ones based on my own background. Which is what distinguishes an artist from a marketeer. I try to inject the spontaneous energy from the street into my artistic practice, and I create my own contribution to the ‘revolution of everyday life’ in the shape of texts and objects. 
Therefore, a recurrent element in my work is my protesting against cynicism and a preference for the sensuality and romantic value of the materials of the street, the ones the vagabond knows better than the bourgeois. But rather than a political activist, I like to call myself a poetical terrorist. “