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.

antwerpenbarok2018.be

Luc Tuymans

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(c)image: M HKA

Het Gesprek [The Conversation], 1995

Luc Tuymans

Print , 50 x 63 cm

Paper Hahnemühle 200 gr.

These bodies have been reduced to a pair of shadowy silhouettes, joined together in a continuous form. While their features – along with other details, such as the position of a hand or a hint of a tie – are faintly visible beneath a wash of dark colour, the possible meaning of their congres scan only be guessed at based on their amplified body language. On the left, a curved spine and an outstretched hand, on the right, a rigid, formal bearing. With both content and context blocked out, Tuymans presents the bare envelope of social relations: a placeholder for communication. The original piece consisted of a collage affixed to the inside of a book cover that served as the basis for a later painting of the same motif.

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