Pieter DE CLERCQ - Tablecloth (2020)

In his studio, De Clercq has a collection of everyday objects, which are given a new lease of life as sculptures. He even repurposes his own artworks into new projects. 

For the creation of the open-air sculpture “I suggest I don't have to explain myself to the insurance company for you dancing drunken on my tablecloth … und Knüppel aus dem Sack!”, De Clercq used an old sheet that he once found at the opera house where he worked. He draped the sheet over the pedestal he would later use for his sculpture, made a mould of it, and then duplicated the shape in polyurethane resin. The result is a fragile art object that looks like a flying tablecloth on a pedestal. 

The fairytale-like scene is also reminiscent of the Grimm brothers’ folk tale The Wishing-table, the Gold-ass, and the Cudgel in the Sack. The playful title of the work is a way for De Clercq to create his very own fairy tale, but it also acts as a warning to the curious students on the university campus. In the past, the artist had several of his works in public spaces vandalised. He therefore added the humorous reference to the insurance company.