The Voyage of the Mascot

The artist has chosen ceramic because it has been used all over the world for centuries. Firing clay petrifies an image. It is a way of holding on to an element of our fleeting visual culture. But where a classical statue tells a clear story, Van Overmeiren questions images and their meaning.

Van Overmeiren brings together elements from different cultures, from ancient legends in which humans and animals merge to contemporary cultural phenomena such as Pokémon, in which the same process occurs. It is an all-consuming appropriation and incorporation of spiritual elements and symbolism, representative of our globalized contemporary visual culture.

Belgian contemporary sculptor Sharon Van Overmeiren creates “fictional sculptures.” They are composed of references to various cultures and times, from pre-Columbian motifs to contemporary cartoons. Meaning and shifts in meaning are central to her work. Her sculptures can therefore be interpreted differently when placed in different contexts: they appear as “props” in a composition, installation, or drawing, or as protagonists of a video or an audio piece with their own scenario and voice.