With the human body and its visible suffering at the core of her oeuvre, De Bruyckere’s art continually strives to restore our sensitivity towards the timeless and universal aspect of human existence. In today’s world, we are bombarded by images of suffering to such an extent that we have become desensitized to it. However, through her work, De Bruyckere draws our attention towards this suffering and allows us to interpret and make sense of it in our own way. In doing so, she deftly navigates the boundaries of visual representation of physical and emotional pain.
De Bruyckere habiliments her sculptures using wax, resin, rope, and weathered leather or fabric, intertwining separate wax casts to form cohesive bodies. Her focus solely lies on bodies; faces concealed behind tresses of hair or garments, with heads often amiss. Employing unique pigments, she transforms wax into sallow skin with faint glimmers of blood vessels and bruises. Crimson blotches and simulated “wounds” create the illusion of a tormented body, evoking religious connotations, particularly the symbolism surrounding martyrs like St. Sebastian – an influential figure to Cripplewood. Apart from these religious elements, classical mythology also plays a crucial role in De Bruyckere’s compositions, with Ovid’s Metamorphoses serving as a continuous wellspring of inspiration.
Horses also hold significance as a symbol in her oeuvre, functioning predominantly as a metaphor to convey deep human emotions pertaining to death and mortality.
In addition to her sculptural works, the upcoming exhibition will also showcase drawings and early textile pieces. De Bruyckere utilizes her drawings, often composed in a blend of watercolor and gouache on upcycled paper or cardboard, as exploratory studies delving into the themes of her sculptures. In this regard, her inspiration often emanates from the movements of dancers. The process of developing ideas with dancers in the studio holds great importance for her and has resulted in an array of wax sculptures, as well as various series of drawings. These series are not mere preparatory studies, but rather function as standalone works of art, emphasizing the recurring themes that define her entire body of work. De Bruyckere’s sketches, drawings, watercolors, and sculptures are all intertwined, collectively forming a cohesive “body of work.”
www.ftn-books.com has some de Bruyckere publications available.
Your articles always leave me thinking.
I love how well-organized and detailed this post is.
Posts like this are why I keep coming back. It’s rare to find content that’s simple, practical, and not full of fluff.
Let’s get logged in. Need to see what six6slogin is all about. Gonna go ahead and click this six6slogin link!
488bet777. Big numbers, big potential, right? I’m hoping for some decent odds here. Let’s roll! 488bet777