Leon Stoffelen (1992) considers chatrooms and apps important spaces for discovering queer sexuality. Allowing you to remain anonymous, these online environments are easily accessible and relatively safe for many people interested in exploring their own sexuality.
Those who enter Stoffelen’s installation Loving Picture (2023) are immediately confronted with chatroom aesthetics: opulent wallpaper with ornate decorations and idealized landscape paintings are all meant to evoke a romantic atmosphere. Stoffelen is challenging these aesthetics; no matter how cosy they may look, and how liberating these spaces might be for anyone wishing to anonymously experiment with a sexual identity, they may also lead to an image of love and intimacy that is just a little too rose-coloured.
The paintings in the installation are based on images that, to the artist, relate to queer identity. They include depictions of muscular bodies, which here have been positioned among the charming interior decorations. To Stoffelen, however, being queer is not just about stereotypical examples of physical beauty. He attempts to reveal a different layer of meaning that lies hidden beneath the visual cliché. Although it may not always seem evident from the corny aesthetics, the search for something new remains the most important incentive for people to visit and us chatrooms and apps. To Stoffelen it is all about his appreciation for these virtual environments and he believes desire is the reason why these spaces exist.
Text: Jorne Vriens
Translation from Dutch to English: Marie Louise Schoondergang