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 Vercruysse

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(c)image: M HKA

De Reconstructie van Kamer (III) [The Reconstruction of Room (III)], 2010

Jan Vercruysse

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During the exhibition Twee Uur Breed of Twee Uur Lang - Fascinerende Fascetten van Vlaanderen, 58/98 [Two Hours Wide or Two Hours Long - Fascinating Aspects of Flanders, 58/98] in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp in 1999, Jan Vercruysse's Room (III) was damaged to such an extent that the artist himself declared the work irreparable. Because of the importance of the work within Vercruysse's oeuvre, and as a key work within the recent art history of Flanders, it was desirable to renovate Room (III). With support of the Flemish Community, M HKA decided to collaborate with Jan Vercruysse to create a completely new version of Room (III). The new version was to be constructed with some radical changes to the technical structure of the work, making the Room less vulnerable to damage in the future.

The elaborate reconstruction of Room (III) tells us much about Jan Vercruysse's artistic vision. In principle, his works are about their underlying concepts, but he also needs an intricate material precision to guarantee their formal appearance. The fabrication of many of his sculptures is reliant on industrial processes that require specialized know-how. To achieve a perfect execution, Vercruysse often calls on third parties for the material construction of his works.

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