Vincent Bal’s “First Glass Air Journey” / Courtesy of the artist
Artist and filmmker Vincent Bal / Courtesy of the artist
What gained Belgian artist and filmmaker Vincent Bal his 1.17 million Instagram followers? Shadows.
Extra exactly, his whimsical illustrations are born from the quirky silhouettes forged by on a regular basis objects. With only a few strokes of ink, he brings out the surprising tales and characters tucked inside them.
In his fingers, hair shears develop into a suit-donning gentleman; a cheese slicer turns right into a lightsaber wielded by Yoda; and dried chilis morph right into a reveler dancing with arms flung skyward. In a single drawing, even an peculiar pair of steel tongs will get its personal comedian twist, its shadow reworked right into a taekwondo athlete shaking his ankle in ache after a brick-breaking try, accompanied by a Korean phrase that reads “It hurts so much.”
Vincent Bal’s “Yoda vs Gouda” / Courtesy of the artist
Whereas social media has lengthy been Bal’s playground to share his creative craft with tongue-in-cheek titles, the artist’s doodles stepped into the true world in 2022 with “The Artwork of Shadow,” his first-ever solo exhibition. The present drew greater than 80,000 guests because it traveled by way of Seoul, Daejeon and Busan.
This month, Bal has returned to Museum 209 in southern Seoul for his second present, “Shadowgram.”
Set up view of Vincent Bal’s exhibition, “Shadowgram,” at Museum 209 in southern Seoul / Courtesy of Dcommunication
What units the brick-and-mortar exhibition aside from his normal on-line engagement?
“The good factor about social media is that the bar may be very low and it’s simple to speak with individuals. However having the ability to see them for actual was improbable,” Bal advised The Korea Instances, Wednesday, as he and his workforce made last-minute changes to the set up.
“Seeing that second the place they get the joke within the drawing, watching the reactions on their faces in actual time — that’s very humorous,” he added.
“One of many nice revelations is realizing that folks all world wide are very a lot the identical. Everyone likes a sure sort of humor; it doesn’t rely on what nation or tradition you’re from. Some issues are merely common. It’s a reduction in a approach, as a result of some politicians wish to inform us that folks from different nations are so completely different. I don’t suppose that’s true.”
Vincent Bal’s “Energy Clamp” / Courtesy of the artist
Vincent Bal’s “Taekwondo Tongs” / Courtesy of the artist
Bal started his “Shadowology” sequence — a time period he coined to offer his craft a extra “scientific” ring — in 2016, when he reworked the odd little shadow forged by a teacup he’d purchased in Vietnam, one with a comically formed deal with, right into a tiny elephant.
Practically a decade has handed since then, but his inventive momentum reveals no signal of slowing. New concepts proceed to spring from probability encounters with objects tucked round his residence, perched on thrift-shop cabinets, or ready in lodge rooms — just like the time the silhouette of lodge espresso pods morphed into an undercover detective together with his nostril buried in a newspaper.
Generally, the identical object reveals recent prospects years later. The artist remembers returning to a staple remover. First, it grew to become a canine howling on the moon; then, a number of years on, round John Lennon’s birthday, it reappeared as Lennon himself, strumming a guitar.
“I’m nonetheless amazed on daily basis at how only a tiny change within the place of a lamp or an object can actually change the shadow and convey out some peculiar new form,” he mentioned.
At “Shadowgram,” the silhouettes of the “gat,” the normal Korean horsehair hat, are reimagined as wide-eyed monsters. Courtesy of Dcommunication
At “Shadowgram,” a lot of the 120 works on view are prints of Bal’s witty shadow photographs created since his final present. Alongside them are bodily installations, each giant and small, that convey his 2D drawings to life by casting actual shadows.
It additionally introduces a stylistically distinct sequence he debuted at his Paris solo exhibition final yr. Titled “Shadows on the Silver Display,” the drawings pay homage to scenes from movies he loves, from “Singin’ within the Rain” to “The Large Lebowski,” hinting at his parallel inventive life as a filmmaker.
A ultimate deal with awaits Korean audiences towards the top of the Seoul presentation.
The shadows of the nation’s folding followers give rise to swish dancers in purple heels, whereas the silhouettes of the “gat,” the normal Korean horsehair hat, are reimagined as wide-eyed monsters — a playful nod to its latest pop-cultural revival in “KPop Demon Hunters.”
“Shadowgram,” which opened Friday, runs by way of June 14, 2026, at Museum 209.
