Marcelle Hanselaar 'Open Secrets'

About

‘Our civilised and socially conformist behaviour is only the tip of the iceberg; underneath this ‘cool' protective mask we inhabit a raw, pulsating and surreal world in which anything is possible.' Internationally acclaimed artist Marcelle Hanselaar's narrative works question the broad behaviour of our globalised society and the place of the individual within the hubbub. A primary focus of Hanselaar's exhibition is 'The Theatre of the Absurd' — the phenomena of the crowd, how the shift from private to collective behaviours creates a shift of inner boundaries. The paintings examine how people's social and moral behaviours are affected by group mentality in extreme situations and ask the viewer to question the strength of their own character — when normal rules fall away would you hold your own, or do you become part of the feral crowd? Alongside the paintings are a number of prints, firstly ‘Loss of Innocence' - 6 large prints that respond initially to the uprisings against the stranglehold of the old power structures in the Arab Spring and again the severe effect of civil war on ordinary people. ‘We're all bleeding' are 9 etchings returns to a subject that Marcelle is familiar with - that of the conflicting awareness and subsequent balance juggle of how we see ourselves and how we appear to others.