Going back into my archives made me remember just how many times I had seen Jan Fabre. In Brussels, in Lille, in Paris (the Louvre and the Templon Gallery) but I will never forget the incident of his throwing cats in the air and letting the fall - howling. Yet, here was another exhibition with exactly the same title as in Lille
Tribute to Hieronymus Bosch in Congo (2011-2013). Tribute to Belgian Congo (2010-2013). For the latter you remember the horrors of King Leopold.
A second exhibition at the Templon Gallery.
This is a paragraph out of the Lille chapter (And Beetle Crawling all over you - Beaux Arts Lille, 7th November 2013).
Jérome Bosch is an emblematic painter too. On one side he carried out orders of churches and on the other he criticized the hypocritical sentiments of the bourgeoisie, frequently making them look burlesque or macabre. Conjugating these monsters then with the Belgium history of the Congo was an interesting and symbolic way of showing how he saw this horrific situation in Africa. In a way, as if the beetles were flying, the work is in movement. The beetles change in size and color. It’s like watching moving color as you walk around the paintings (can they be called that?) and try not to see yourself in them. This of course I did so the photos reflect another image at the same time.
I will be perfectly honest with you. I only very vaguely remembered that I had seen this exhibition in Lille. At the same time I had seen Murakami and her dots….perhaps Fabre fascinates me because I really don’t quite understand his work.
The sculptures this time around were of birds. Those you could wander around and really see the detail. I know he collects his beetles in the Congo, that he works from drawings and his assistants put the image together. The working hours must be long and precise as when you look at the birds for instance you can see each beetle carapace and all their different colors. Fascinating ? yes.
Art ? certainly. Frightening? - a little.
He was there at the opening and was interviewed in English. The staff kept on « moving me on » as I tried to stay as close to him as I could in order to listen.
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He draws his inspiration from scenes depicted in the Garden of Earthly Delights reinterpreting them as allegories of injustice, cruelty and indifference. I had seen all the large images before and had only remembered a few. I said it before and I repeat myself….looking at his work with all the light reflections does not make it easy. I don’t know how the photographers got on. I didn’t have much luck.
I do agree with him when he says that the iridescent material
offers a constantly changing vision that embraces every graduation from shadow to light. These works need to be looked at from far off and very closely if the colors and different nuances are to be seen at all.
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| Hommage à Jerome Bosch au Congo |
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| Congo Belge fontaine de vie, 2012 |
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| The Civilizing Country of Belgium 2012 |
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| The Pot calls the Kettle Black 2012 |
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| Pour laver son linge proprement 2013 |
As he was there and I could listen to a little of what he was saying, so his work could be seen in a different light. I said it in 2013 that I wouldn’t be rushing off to see him again…..I didn’t rush off but strolled leisurely down to the gallery and back again
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