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This work is located in the provincial domain Atlantikwall Raversyde. Check the website for opening hours and admission price.
Most works by Lily van der Stokker assume the shape of extensive decorative and colourful murals, often with a childlike innocence and naivety. In a disarmingly shameless and exuberant manner, they deal with ideas of beauty, love, relationships or family. Despite, or perhaps because of their apparent simplicity, her works are often challenging and are situated within a growing discourse on post-feminist practices. She plays with stereotypical femininity and calls her style 'nonshouting feminism'; she does not shy away from sentimentality in her work.
For Beaufort Lily van der Stokker transforms Villa Bastien at Raversyde in a remarkable manner. This traditional brick villa, named after one of its occupants, Belgian painter Alfred Bastien, is transposed from an architectural object into a two-dimensional canvas, which reinforces the work's pop character.
The entire exterior is covered in two green check patterns reminiscent of traditional tea towels. The iconic and very recognisable patterns were designed by the artist herself and are positioned alternately straight and diagonally on the roof and façades. The choice of the colours white and green is not completely arbitrary. One the one hand, they lighten up the gloomy atmosphere of a war museum. On the other hand, they emphasise the sharp contrast between the femininity of the check pattern and the masculinity of the bunkers and soldiers. Van der Stokker herself describes the design as a refreshing stranger who reinvigorates the spirit of the house. The choice of a repetitive minimalistic yet playful pattern enhances the visibility of the building's architecture, strengthening the association with dazzle camouflage, a technique consisting of geometric patterns in contrasting colours often used on ships during the First World War and aimed at confusing the enemy instead of concealing the ships.
Most works by Lily van der Stokker assume the shape of extensive decorative and colourful murals, often with a childlike innocence and naivety. In a disarmingly shameless and exuberant manner, they deal with ideas of beauty, love, relationships or family. Despite, or perhaps because of their apparent simplicity, her works are often challenging and are situated within a growing discourse on post-feminist practices. She plays with stereotypical femininity and calls her style 'nonshouting feminism'; she does not shy away from sentimentality in her work.
For Beaufort Lily van der Stokker transforms Villa Bastien at Raversyde in a remarkable manner. This traditional brick villa, named after one of its occupants, Belgian painter Alfred Bastien, is transposed from an architectural object into a two-dimensional canvas, which reinforces the work's pop character.
The entire exterior is covered in two green check patterns reminiscent of traditional tea towels. The iconic and very recognisable patterns were designed by the artist herself and are positioned alternately straight and diagonally on the roof and façades. The choice of the colours white and green is not completely arbitrary. One the one hand, they lighten up the gloomy atmosphere of a war museum. On the other hand, they emphasise the sharp contrast between the femininity of the check pattern and the masculinity of the bunkers and soldiers. Van der Stokker herself describes the design as a refreshing stranger who reinvigorates the spirit of the house. The choice of a repetitive minimalistic yet playful pattern enhances the visibility of the building's architecture, strengthening the association with dazzle camouflage, a technique consisting of geometric patterns in contrasting colours often used on ships during the First World War and aimed at confusing the enemy instead of concealing the ships.
