LEON STOFFELEN
Loving Picture, box made of hand-painted
MDF with laser-cut design, 10 x 18 x 5 cm. /3.9 x 7.1 x 2 inches, edition 4 + 2
A.P., box signed and numbered. Includes 3 color prints of stills from the video,
each 10 x 18 cm. /3.9 × 7.1 inches, signed with initials and year. High-density
foam inlay containing an SD card.
On the SD card:
– MPEG-4 video file,
HD (1920 × 1080), 1.02 GB, duration 7:05 min
– PDF with explanatory notes about the work (in English and Dutch)
€ 650,- LAUNCHPRICE
Loving Picture (2024) by Leon Stoffelen is a meditation on intimacy, desire, and the fluidity of representation. Released as a special edition for collectors in collaboration with mo-artgallery, the video draws from the aesthetics and social dynamics of gay chatrooms: digital spaces where anonymity, fantasy, and longing intersect. Stoffelen reworks imagery from these virtual encounters, isolating moments of unexpected tenderness and ephemeral connection. Loving Picture presents a series of fragmented yet tender moments, unfolding in a dreamlike, blue-tinted atmosphere. Figures appear and dissolve, their interactions hovering between the staged and the spontaneous, the idealized and the corporeal. Set against paradisiacal backdrops - lush forests, untouched beaches, radiant sunsets - these fleeting exchanges evoke both intimacy and dislocation. As with much of Stoffelen’s work, the video suggests an alternative visual language for queer intimacy - one that sidesteps both mainstream representation and overt eroticism. It reflects on the role of online spaces as sites of both escapism and self-discovery, revealing how queer identity is shaped through virtual experiences. Loving Picture is an image of love, not as it is, but as it could be: abstracted, fluid, and deeply personal.
