LEO GABIN, REAL ESTATE

The fascination for American residential housing has always been present in the work of Leo Gabin and played a big role in their film ‘A Crackup at the Race Riots’ (based on the eponymous novel by Harmony Korine). Set in Florida, the film contains many amateur recordings of abandoned houses and empty commercial businesses in the aftermath of the 2007-2008 financial crisis and the burst of the US housing bubble. The foreclosed houses and decaying properties viewed as artifacts of a once prosperous time.

Also in LG’s latest film project NO PANIC BABY suburban housing and struggeling commercial properties (casinos, motels, malls and grocery stores) are the backdrop for an evocative love story steeped in extreme paranoia and conspiracy theories, questioning the boundaries between reality and fiction, fake vs real. These elements are also translated into the installation, which combines original models in cardboard and reproductions in bronze. Playing with the concepts of high and low quality.

The actual REAL ESTATE sculptures are based on footage shot by the artists during their travels in The States, as well as through Google Street View research and the viewing of various ‘My Neighborhood Tour’ videos.

Leo Gabin is a Belgian artists trio, who have worked together since 2000. Their practice includes painting, installation, sculpture & film. Work by Leo Gabin has been exhibited and screened at museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt; White Cube, London, museum M Woods, Beijing, CPH:DOX (selected New:Vision award), Nowe Horyzonty (selected Grand Prix), IFFR (Critics’ Choice), Torino Film Festival, CineMarfa, among others.