De Bruyckere's work deals with death and transfiguration and looks to stories and art of the past to address anxieties that remain current. Her sculptures accomplish an almost alchemical transformation of wax into flesh, and out of this fantastical realism she creates intolerably mutated bodies: figures lack heads, borrow and reconfigure anatomies, become amorphous, vegetal and abstract. Djordje Ozbolt's exhibition features a selection of artist's large and small-scale paintings replete with intricate detail and satirical humour.
Berlinde De Bruyckere
Horse, deer and man metamorphose in Berlinde De
Bruyckere's exhibition for Hauser & Wirth Zurich. De
Bruyckere's work deals with death and transfiguration
and looks to stories and art of the past to address
anxieties that remain current. Her sculptures
accomplish an almost alchemical transformation
of wax into flesh, and out of this fantastical realism
she creates intolerably mutated bodies: figures lack
heads, borrow and reconfigure anatomies, become
amorphous, vegetal and abstract. Their distortions
emphasise our own fragile existence. 'I want to show
how helpless a body can be,' De Bruyckere has said.
'Which is nothing you have to be afraid of — it can be
something beautiful.'
Antlers, a new motif for the Flemish artist, summon
the fate of Actæon who was turned into a stag by the
Goddess Diana before swiftly being torn to death by his
own hounds. Preternaturally delicate and raw, pairs of
antlers are suspended by string from the gallery walls.
Blood red, mottled white and sinuous, they are utterly
unlike the clichéd hunting trophies mounted in baronial halls. Flowing downwards and growing together as
though protecting one another, these pairs seem sensitive and still alive; one wears bandages — an intimation
of human feeling lying within these abstract animal forms.
Two other pieces in the exhibition use the same
technique: a horse, sliced in two lengthways
and hung vertically in a vitrine; and an elongated
human figure whose resting body twists into a
fleshy landscape that admits no head. The latter is
dignified despite its deformity and has been granted
a pillow to cushion its legs. Its emaciated form calls
to mind Renaissance depictions of Christ taken from
the cross, as well as more contemporary horrors
such as concentration camp victims or the distorted
bodies of famine sufferers. The horse imagines
death on a large scale. Headless and hoofless,
pale and translucent, its vertical carcasses are
anthropomorphic, resembling swollen human figures
whilst also calling to mind Rembrandt's 'Flayed Ox'
and Soutine’s ox torsos.
Another horse's torn body, cast in iron, rises dramatically
from a table. Iron is a new material for De Bruyckere and
was chosen to convey 'the heaviness of death'. The
horse's unyielding weight and emptied body contrast
brutally with the malleable vulnerability of the waxen
forms. Bringing unlike things together, De Bruyckere
tests sculpture’s potential to recuperate and heal, using
materials and motifs to create an increasingly complex
language of empathy and suffering.
Berlinde De Bruyckere (born in Ghent in 1964) won
international acclaim at the 2003 Venice Biennale where
her sculptures were shown in the Italian Pavilion. Recent
solo shows include 'Berlinde De Bruyckere — Luca
Giordano: We Are All Flesh', Hauser & Wirth London,
England (2009); and Espace Claude Berri, Paris, France
(2008). Her numerous group shows include 'Le sort
probable de l'homme qui avait avalé le fantôme', Centre
Georges Pompidou, Paris, France (2009); the 3rd
Moscow Biennial of Contemporary Art, Russia (2009);
'Infinitum' (2009) and 'Artempo — Where Time Becomes
Art' (2007), both at Palazzo Fortuny, Venice, Italy; and
the 4th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art, Germany
(2007). De Bruyckere’s forthcoming exhibitions include
the Gwangju Biennale, Korea (September 2010); and
'Mysterium Leib. Berlinde De Bruyckere in dialogue with
Cranach and Pasolini', Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle,
Germany (July 2011).
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Djordje Ozbolt
Hauser & Wirth Zurich is delighted to
announce its first solo exhibition of works
by London-based artist, Djordje Ozbolt. The
exhibition will feature a selection of Ozbolt’s
large and small-scale paintings replete with
intricate detail and satirical humour.
Works such as 'Postcolonial Discourse', which
portrays a Delft bowl heaped with raw meat
balanced on the head of an African sculpture in
a tropical yet gloomy landscape, raise questions
surrounding culture, colonialism and identity.
Meanwhile 'The Madness of Comrade Lenin'
shows a traditional portrait of Bolshevik leader
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin painted with a muted
palette.
In contrast to the serious expression
and gravitas of Lenin, a Communist flag and
an acid-house smiley-face are super-imposed
on to the subject's pupils. Both canvasses are
exemplary of Ozbolt's witty and unconventional
approach, which results in collage-like images.
In his work Ozbolt merges experiences from his
frequent travels with subject matter from a
vast array of references ranging from religious
iconography to pastiches of still lifes; from
political propaganda to pop-culture and
kitsch. Seemingly incongruous symbols are
seamlessly melded in Ozbolt's fantastical
paintings, merging diverse sources into a
single compact, and sometimes macabre,
narrative.
Ozbolt has described his artistic process as
'restless'. His work gives him the freedom
to effortlessly transition between different
techniques, styles and topics with surrealist
flair, creating his own distinct and darkly
comical image of the world.
Born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1967, Djordje Ozbolt studied at the School of Architecture at the
University of Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro between 1988 – 1991 before moving to London.
Ozbolt has previously shown with Hauser & Wirth in the group exhibitions 'London in Zurich',
Hauser & Wirth Zürich (2005); and 'Old School', Zwirner & Wirth, New York NY (2008). Other group
shows include 'Other People's Projects', White Columns, New York NY (2005); and Tate Triennial,
Tate Britain, London (2006). Ozbolt's solo exhibitions include a recent show at Nyehaus, New York
NY (2008).
Press Contact: Catherine Mason
catherine@suttonpr.com
Kristina McLean
kristina@suttonpr.com
+44 (0) 207 183 3577
Image: Berlinde De Bruyckere, Piëta, 2007-2008
© Berlinde De Bruyckere
Friedrich Christian Flick Collection
Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth
Photo: Mirjam Devriendt
Opening: Saturday 12 June 6 – 8 pm
Galerie Hauser & Wirth
Limmatstrasse 270 - Zurich