Yannick Val Gesto admits to a self-confessed tendency to look for ‘hidden gems’ online — an act which fuels his art practice. He tries to find ‘rare’ pieces of visual integrity that can range from fan art to photographs to personalised memes, etc. What is most important to him throughout the search for visual material is that there be a notion of emotion or expression, a longing for happiness in digitalisation, no matter how naive or ugly the piece might be. It’s this specific type of visual information that he likes to alter into something of his own. This results in compositions and drawings drenched with unconventional aesthetics.

Yannick Val Gesto (born 1987, Borgerhout, Belgium) is most interested in cyberculture, psychology and image-making. His drawings and installations explore the relationship between digital perfection, expression and human error. He has exhibited internationally at places like Higher Pictures (US), Bid Project Gallery (IT), Sunday Art Fair (UK), NRW-Forum (DE) and Ausstellungsraum Klingental (CH). He is currently living and working in Hemiksem (BE) and is represented by Levy.Delval (BE) and Cinnnamon (NL).

Yannick Val Gesto's work is featured in the latest issue of Mould Map