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. 

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    Sanguine/Bloedrood. Luc Tuymans on Baroque

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    Studio Luc Tuymans, image: (c) M HKA
    Thanatophanies, 1955-1995
    On Kawara
    Print , 30 x (43 x 33 cm)
    etchings on woven paper

    With the Death Masks, On Kawara already looked death in the eye at a young age.  Later – with the United States as his home base – the horrible images from his childhood seem to have prompted him to spread the message ‘I am still alive’ every day, as a sign of life force.   

    Eventually it was not until the mid-nineties that the Death Masks were published under the title Thanatophanies. The images refer not only to the horror as such, but also to the genetic apocalypse that resulted: physical malformations and hereditary deviations. The series of lithographs is shown within the context of the Baroque because, according to the curator, they express the same urgency and the same reaction to violence, and reveal the universal and consistent manner in which this information repeatedly presents itself.

    Text: Hans Willemse
    Translations: Michael Meert

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