Sanguine / Bloedrood

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.

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Jan Fabre

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(c)image: M HKA

After Art, no Image only Smell, 1980

Jan Fabre

Installation

"In the beginning of Fabres 'After Art' performance (1980) the floor reveals the outlining of a man, made with shaving-cream. Fabre steps inside the outlining, removes his own clothes and dresses himself with clothes lying on the floor, precisely inside the outlining of the man. A white shirt, white trousers and white slippers. With those items Fabre becomes the (white) anonymous man on the floor: after redressing he wipes away the shaving-cream outlining. With this ritual start Fabre gives himself a whole new identity, bringing his own outlining, his own drawing, to life. An abstract image with which he gives himself, for the durance of the performance, an artificial double: the artist Jan Fabre. During the performance he keeps on referring to this double.

The performance is divided into separate acts, between those acts Fabre regards himself in a mirror; almost as to study his appearance. Afterwards he walks in a circle around the outlining, still vaguely visible after been wiped out. Again and again Fabre emphasizes the fact that the performance is not about himself but about a certain view of him, a separation of his person."

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