UNCERTAIN MENTAL IDENTY(IES)

In this compilation of short works, the dandy Messieurs Delmotte delivers a mild critique on the art world by nodding to famous paintings and performances / actions of the twentieth century. At the same time, he also slashes and destroys unknown paintings such as a shoddy still life of flowers. The compilation ‘Uncertain Mental Identity(ies)’ exists in a short (29:13) and long version (44:34).

In ‘The Outsider Escape Modern Art 1’, a painting by Joan Miró appears. After a while, the canvas starts moving, as Messieurs Delmotte is cutting a hole from the backside of the painting. Slowly another hole emerges and Delmotte sticks both his head and arm through the piece. Later in this compilation, Delmotte will perform a likewise action. In ‘The Outsider Escape Modern Art 2’ he will interact with a geometric composition painted by Sonia Delaunay. Seated frontal before the camera, Delmotte crafts in ‘Hair Mustache’s Sculptor’ a moustache from his hair and sticks it on his upper lip, while ‘Electric Natural Death’ shows him performing a silly dance with a kitschy still life painting of pink roses in a vase.

Seated in a sofa, he smokes a cigarette in front of the camera in ‘Cancelled Time’, just until the alarm clock rings. In the following ‘I am not a Painter, I am a Painting’ he sits at a table, arms crossed. Dressed in a clean white shirt and tie, two arms appear in the frame from both sides. Armed with brushes, these hands and arms smear brightly coloured paint over his outfit. When his shirt and tie are fully covered, also his face and hair get thick layers of paint in all colours.

And so it goes on. In ‘Boxed Painting’, Messieurs Delmotte smashes a painting of a flower scene into pieces, ‘One to One (A)’, shows him conveying a goldfish from one fish bowl to another while in One to One (B) ' het smashes the fish bowl into smithereens. Messieurs Delmotte juggles in 'What's Sculpture is (?!) Today’, with the head of a statuette of the 19th century Catholic priest, writer and educator Don Bosco while in 'The Painter and the Mouth, Foot and Anus’, he paints text with his body parts.

‘Uncertain Mental Identity(ies)’ is somewhat a wild collection of absurd actions that often have an immediate funny effect but leave a long lasting bittersweet aftertaste.