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14.04.2022
At MO.CO. Montpelier, 1st monographic exhibition of Berlinde de Bruyckere from June 18 to October 2, 2022
The solo exhibition of Berlinde De Bruyckere at MO.CO. is the most ambitious presentation of her work in France thus far. On the occasion, MO.CO. inaugurates a new chapter of its history, with a programme that, from now on, incorporates vast monographic exhibitions.
55 works, including 6 new productions made for the MO.CO.
The one dedicated to Berlinde De Bruyckere, conceived in a tight-knit collaboration with the artist, puts together some fifty works made by her between 1999 and 2022. Exploring her preferred media (sculpture, installation, drawing, watercolour, and collage), she takes over all the spaces of Hôtel Montcalm. The selection includes six new works created specifically for this project in Montpellier.
The journey of the exhibition at MO.CO.
The exhibition opens with the monumental sculpture After Crippelwood II, 2014: a wax cast of a tree trunk mounted on top of metal structures. Its stretched position and flesh colour suggest a fragility similar to that of a recumbent statue, healed by the artist with strips of fabric. The exploration of metamorphoses towards humanity proceeds in the succession of rooms of this old building.
The first large plateau of the extension of MO.CO., voluntarily stripped of any temporary walls, receives an exceptional series of Arcangelos gathered and displayed in an entirely new way, many of them having been created especially for the occasion. The set is completed by large-format mural sculptures (from the series Pioenen and It almost seemed a lily) and was conceived to summarise the most recent research of the artist, witnessing the spiritual dimension that passes through her works.
The ground floor is articulated around the central sculpture No Life Lost II, 2015, with two blindfolded horses lying down on top of each other in a glass cabinet (all animals cast by the artist have deceased of natural causes); textile works of the Courtyard Tales series, composed of mural works made of weathered and tore blankets that lost their protective and comforting function; as well as a new work inspired by an old and worn out tree bearing the stigmata of its history. The underground floor receives a new immersive installation, composed of superposed and wax cast of animal hides. Such imagery, connected with tannery and animal exploitation, evokes our society of consumption and its abuses.
Berlinde De Bruyckere’s exhibition is accompanied by the publication of a richly illustrated catalogue for the occasion, in both French and English by Bernard Chauveau Edition, with graphic design entrusted to the design studio Atelier Tout va bien, fully illustrated by Mirjam Devriendt. It also comprises unpublished texts of the South African writer Antjie Krog and Numa Hambursin inspired by the series of works presented in the exhibition, as well as an interview with the artist made by the curators.
Biography of Berlinde De Bruyckere
Born in Ghent, Belgium, in 1964, where she currently lives and works, Berlinde De Bruyckere was deeply influenced by the Flemish Renaissance painting. Drawing from the legacy of great European masters, religious iconography, as well as ancient mythology
and traditional culture, her work rests upon the dialectics experienced between images of current affairs and the breath of universal and timeless parables.
Exhibition from June 18 to October 2, 2022
MO.CO.
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