Altough Helmut Stallaerts works mainly a painter, he also works with installations, photographs and films. Man is undoubtly the central motif in the artist's complex and broad oeuvre. It is not man in the here and now, but alienated man, blurred and absent. In a rather theatrical and often awkward way, he shows himself, poses for his audience. The quest for power and power relations is often reflected in Stallaerts' work. Control and submission form part of the development of a culture. The attempt of the artist to delineate (mental) spaces away from power is, ultimately, a pointless exercise. Alternative spaces barely exist in modern society.
