I had met Daniel, seen some of his work, I had even purportedly exhibited with him, but what really brought us together were the demonstrations against the closure of the Museum of Modern Art. Daniel as activist, as ‘artivist’.

An activist in his own way, and that’s the point. The work he presented at Galerie 100 Titres, at the Bomel Cultural Centre, at sundry locations in Tournai, elsewhere, engages our attention, wakes us up, on the quiet. He makes us open our eyes, and our ears, to what is happening in our city, our country, our world. Perceiving what we don’t want to see, to know… though we should…

His way of achieving this is unique, it is Daniel’s locus, his vantage point, also his matter, his question, his theme.

Indeed his commitment, though steadfasr, unflinching, isn’t a matter of messages or injunctions, and his proposals incite us to an open reading — though not just any open reading. Fuzzy or blurry doesn’t mean any sort of waffle, and the discrepancies between images, between text and image are no contradictions: they help to set in motion our gaze, our listening ability, our thinking processes.

Wit, irony, Paul Nougé, the Daily Bul, a poetry that eschews solemnity and ‘profundity’. A certain wisdom: as another Daniel (Kharms) writes: ‘ Every form of wisdom is good, on condition that someone has fathomed it. An unfathomed  wisdom is liable to gather dust.’ Not a speck of dust here!

You might throw a glance… or two!

Philippe Hunt about the work of Daniel Locus - excerpt - 2021