Happy Island

The sculptures in Bram Verstraeten's Happy Island grew out of an escapist dream that arose during the pandemic when travel became impossible. The sculptures are metaphors for building ultimate happiness. Does the ideal world exist? In this quest, Bram's family sails the seas with an imaginary dog ​​to a seemingly uninhabited island. They build a camp in a tree and glow with fulfillment. Dancing with masks, the family is in a primal state of paradisiacal bliss. Yet, boredom strikes, and happiness becomes a dull routine, trapping them in their own nets. There's no worse trap than your own dream. The final sculpture is titled "Leaving Happy Island". Back to square one.

(text Stefaan Van Bellingen - Warp-Art)

Happy Island has already been included in a few exhibitions: a.o. at the Stanislas Foundation (Antwerp), Warp-Art (St-Niklaas), Balthazar (Brussels), HISK (Brussels), CAS (Ostend), Cecilia Jaime Gallery (Ghent) and Compleet van de kaart (St-Niklaas).