'Dark Uncles' Klaas Rommelaere

16.06.22–30.07.22

‘Dark Uncles’ is an exhibition of woven art by Belgian artist Klaas Rommelaere. The work is part of an ongoing series of hand-stitched tapestries and tactile sculptures inspired by a mixture of cult movies and personal memories. They are full of images, symbols and fragments of film scripts that are handstitched together to form a larger narrative.

His work demonstrates how pop culture can be a comforting force in our lives. Rommelaere makes intricately embroidered tapestries and embroidered sculptures bridging the personal and the collective. The work tells tales of his lived experience. It is full of familiar images and symbols that represent both real and imagined human connections. Each of the pieces takes time and love to produce highlighting the importance of the human connection to the creation and consumption of art. Rommelaere works closely with a “tight-knit” group of 15 veteran craftswomen (‘The Madams’) to produce his pieces, for the last seven years he has depended on them to help bring his ideas to life.

Klaas Rommelaere (°1986, Roeselare, Belgium) graduated in 2013 in fashion at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent. After doing different internships with the likes of Danish designer Henrik Vibskov, and the Belgian designer Raf Simons he realized that the world of fashion was not where his ideas would come to life. Rommelaere began carving his creative path with needlework being the language of his imagination.

Find here the catalog of the works.

About the artist