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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    ©Private collection, Courtesy Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, photographer: Peter Cox
    Miss Fancy Pants: For My Summer Kitty, 2011
    Jack Whitten
    Painting , 170.2 x 170.2 cm
    acrylic on canvas

    Jack Whitten radically embraces abstraction, unlike many of his Afro-American colleagues who often utilise narrative and didactic tactics. From that attention to texture, he gradually seeks to integrate notions of sculpture and collage, and realises elaborated sculpture-paintings, constructed in paint, supplemented with tile patterns and mosaic, in a way reminiscent of murals and architecture. Sanguine/Bloedrood presents Jack Whitten as a powerful presence next to Rubens. The diamond-shaped canvas with a black core contains elements of the geometry that the old masters used as an underlying grid. According to Whitten, ‘The essence of abstraction is distilled essence.’

    Text: Hans Willemse
    Translations: Michael Meert

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