Daan Gielis (1988-2023) was a Antwerp-based visual artist. His work explores the conflicts and contradictions in the emotional, communicative and social systems that together make up the world as we know it: happiness and sadness coinciding, a frustration of desire that only triggers new desire, an underground culture that stays authentic while selling out. Each of these systems is riddled by contradiction. And yet, precisely because of those internal contradictions, these systems thrive, contrasting feelings feed off of each other, setting in motion a never-ending cyclical process from which no escape seems possible. 

His work usually starts from existing sculptures. These sculptures are then transformed, placed in a different context and rebuilt with different materials. The result is original and often surprisingly layered. Personal experiences of Daan Gielis intertwine with a commentary on the world we live in.