Sanguine / Bloedrood

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    During the cultural city festival Antwerp Baroque 2018. Rubens Inspires, the M HKA, the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, juxtaposes the spirit of the baroque masters with the vision of contemporary top artists. With the exhibition Sanguine/Bloedrood (Blood Red), curator Luc Tuymans aims to overwhelm the visitor by placing key works from the baroque of, among others, Francisco de Zurbarán and Caravaggio, in dialogue with works by classical contemporary masters, such as On Kawara and Edward Kienholz, as well as new works by contemporary stars such as Zhang Enli, Takashi Murakami, Michaël Borremans, Sigmar Polke and Tobias Rheberger. 

    antwerpenbarok2018.be

    Dennis Tyfus

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    Het middelpunt van de belangstelling, 2014
    Vaast Colson, Dennis Tyfus
    Painting , 164.5 x 122 cm
    oil on panel

    Vaast Colson & Dennis Tyfus, ever partners in art crime, have again joined forces for the project ‘Radikaal & Radikaler’.  These artists, each in his own way, critically call into question the commercial circuit while remaining allergic to 'recuperation', in whatever guise.  And they often express this in a way that runs from fresh-faced humor to dark irony.  In ‘Radikaal & Radikaler’ they resolutely take on the total notion of the 'art scene' in all its many permutations: drawing, painting, the artist's copyright, price determination, the market, the image… Colson & Tyfus each made a series of drawings on paper, that they at once crumpled up and hid in a grab bag full of paper shreds.  Next, they took turns removing one of these squashed papers and using it as the basis for a painting: so it could be that Colson painted a drawing of Tyfus, or vice versa.  Or they would both work on a single piece.  This painting is one of this series.  The project kicked off in the Trampoline Gallery.  Each work had a number, and each visitor to the gallery could (or can) designate one or more works that they might be interested in buying.  For this, each candidate-buyer would then dip into a second grab bag and pick a piece of crumpled paper with the price - from 100 to 10,000 euro.  If you're lucky, and you like the price, the purchase is yours...

    The grab bag is in a way a reflection of current society: everybody grabs and rummages to their heart's content; you might pick a winner, if not, just throw it away.  And the paper shredder plays its role too, as we read in the small, but splendid, gallery catalogue.  For inspiration, Colson & Tyfus avidly mine the cliché-like and the freshness that so typifies 'new painting'.

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