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In an almost knee-jerk reaction, the practice of Vaast Colson seems continuously bound up in dialogue with the legacy of Martin Kippenberger. Showcasing punk artisthood or engulfed in ironic trickery, the Antwerp artist draws freely on an eclectic trope of artistry as developed by Kippenberger throughout the 1980s, developing it to his contemporaneous advantage.

His new piece Hüzün (2010), on display at Maes & Mathys gallery in Antwerp, equally strikes Kippenbergerian in tone. Placed in a near pitch-black exhibition space are 37 dark turquoise paintings which, each solemnly framed, labelled, and topped by a wax candle, set out random compositions made by the artist’s tears. For seven months leading up to the exhibition, Colson cried his heart out over the inked papers in the corner of his studio, allegedly provoking a feeling of societal or collective melancholy – the reason moreover why Belgian-Italian singer Guido Belcanto opened the show with an undoubtedly sentimental performance. However, the conceptual allegory equally traces back to Kippenberger’s 1989 Martin, into the Corner, You Should be Ashamed of Yourself, in which a cast resin figure of the artist is being punished for indulging himself in satirical iconoclasm and excessive partying. As Colson himself conducted quite a few acts of art historical mockery and festivity over the years, could we say that his tears are similar expressions of penance and regret?

Obviously not. In line with Colson’s previous work, Hüzün must be read against a backdrop of market excesses by now dominating most cultural industries, as well as against the seriousness of various artists trying to critically tackle this condition. Colson cries because, although his work is an ongoing interpellation of art and its markets, he too is compelled to produce commercial exhibitions. Nevertheless, he makes the most of it. As opposed to the moralistic and theoretical strand of institutional critique, spanning from Hans Haacke to Andrea Fraser, Colson realigns his critical art with the Kippenbergian ethos of play, humour and spontaneity.

As such, his work does not ‘research’ or ‘expose’ anything – for instance the economical ins and outs of a gallery – but simply sidesteps the whole art critical deadlock through a laissez-faire opposition of public irony and self-laughter. The dignified gallery becomes his laughingstock.

In this case, the get-together with singer-songwriter Belcanto is a crucial part of the work, relativising the whole artistic suffering and accompanying exhibition into one big joke. And, whereas the paintings themselves will succumb to private investors, the opening party of course will not, providing in a moment of genuine publicness laughing at the gallery pants-down. Understandable that such interesting endeavours are kept free from direct documentation and commodification, it would nevertheless have been appropriate – as well as very, very funny – to include something of this critical moment in the eventual show.

Vaast Colson, Hüzün
9 December – 22 January 2011
Maes & Matthys Gallery, Antwerp