When confronted with Joost Pauwaert (BE, 1985)’s violent kinetic installations, the beholder feels battered , yet he can’t  help but being seduced by the irresistible attraction of destructive movements. 

During an apprenticeship in a carpenter’s studio, Joost Pauwaert realised the finished products were not at all as  interesting as the heavy machinery and the beauty of the force behind these instruments that destroy and create. Then  Pauwaert decided to focus solely on creating kinetic sculptures often as an ode to the balanced beauty of  instrumentation and force. His works stage violence and danger and conceal them in a well balanced way with beauty  and mystery. A game of attraction and repulsion creates amazement with the viewer. Edmund Burke argues that the  perception of terror turns into a feeling of delight when the person, subconsciously, realizes that the potential pain or  danger is removed. Joost Pauwaert agrees with Burke that pain and danger are the most powerful of all emotions,  because they call upon our deepest feelings and life preservation instinct. 

Joost Pauwaert will have a solo exhibition at Barbé Urbain gallery in May 2021 and following on his permanent  installation will have a solo at Verbeke Foundation in 2022.

Represented by Barbé Urbain