I find it amazing how much you can tell with one good photo.” The artist would not end up pursuing photojournalism, but his drive to visualise the darker aspects of society remained. An image really can say more than a thousand words. I enjoyed the yearly books of the world press photo. Discussing his early plans, Boccanegra tells STIR, “I wanted to be a photojournalist.

What added to his fascination with war is that Roeselare itself is located in an area known as the ‘Left Hook’, which was the site of many brutal engagements during the First World War. His parents ran a bookstore wherein he would spend his days poring over the photographs and accounts of historical battles. The artist was born in Roeselare in Belgium, which is a relatively small city, and grew up as an avid reader of war history. The right punch is the story behind it, and that’s what completes the combo.”Īnother shop shutter by Floris Boccanegra, this one looking rather like a target Image: Floris Boccanegra The work doesn’t have to be beautiful, nor ugly, because what really matters is that it captures their imagination. The first punch is what you show the spectator what they see immediately. Art is like boxing you need to go left-fist in and then follow-up with a right-fist. Boccanegra explains the importance of using a two-pronged approach to practice, telling STIR, “Art needs to have a combination of a good story and a powerful image. What comes next is the concept of the piece itself the revelation, and here is where the artist’s work materialises in its full. Disarmingly simple in their construction, the visual force behind Boccanegra’s work comes largely from the associations one begins to make with ideas and concepts in their mind. His work has a strong focus on the hidden, the veiled and the insidious elements of society rather, the aspects of human nature itself that we choose to turn a blind eye to.

Floris Boccanegra is a Belgian conceptual artist whose popularity on the internet is beginning to boom.

2022.09

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