Sammy Slabbinck : surreality check

'You have found a gem, my son. Sammy is a master in his realm.'
Leonard Cohen

Surrealism has another heir. Using humour as a visual tool, Sammy Slabbinck (Bruges, Belgium) choreographs compositions that meditate on the absurdity of popular consumerist culture, both past and present. He cuts up, redistributes, plays with exageration and proportion or places images in reverse context, juxtaposing modern ideals with traditional states of mind. Often witty, but at the same time foreboding and dark, Slabbinck's deft hand creates a unique signature that makes each collage unequivocally his own. Mangled, contestable, reversible. His retro-futuristic collages with cut-outs from vintage issues of Playboy and Paris Match hang in galleries in London, Chicago, New York. They are used as album covers - among which is You Want it Darker by Leonard Cohen - illustrations and digital prints, and they have featured in The New Yorker, The Telegraph and Der Spiegel.