ARTEXT : La Biennale di Venezia
55 Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte
Giardini di Castello - Belgio
KREUPELHOUT - CRIPPLEWOOD
Berlinde De Bruyckere
[...]
I will tell you more first about my plans
for the pavilion.
Some years ago, on our way to Burgundy,
we drove past the ruins of forests and felds
that had been wrecked by a rather ferce spring
storm. The crowns of the trees lay scattered
across the felds, simply ripped from their
trunks. Uprooted trees splintered like kindling.
The intense smell of splintered wood.
On an open spot in the felds, we found
the remains of an enormous tree, struck by a
tremendous force and split in two, its gigantic
crown smashed to the ground. The image came
to mind of a collapsed cathedral, the roof vault
thrown to the floor. I wandered amongst the
remains of the trees; the strength, the overwhelming
power of what had happened was
tangible. Seeing the sky through the ruins of
the storm made me feel incredibly small and
humble, opposed to this brutal and violent force
of nature.
The tree ripped to pieces (a symbol
of life, unrecognizably destroyed), the collapsed
cathedral, the limitations of the human beings
It was an image I couldn't let go, something
I needed to translate into my work. Up till
now, I have never found the right place for it.
Now I feel that this experience can be the base
of what I would like to do in Venice.
This summer I brought an old elm with me from
France. It had been there for years. This tree was
not destroyed by a storm. It had been removed
for other, more practical purposes. But nevertheless,
its size and boldness gave it a strength
that convinced me to bring it home with me.
It is now in the studio and we're working on
the mold.
In my search for trees, I came across a small
group of dead trees in Ghent. Trees that had
lost their bark (their skin) a long time ago. Still
standing in the same place where they were
once planted, but for how long? They were so
worn out, that even when burned they wouldn't
provide enough warmth to find some comfort.
Their only use was to the woodpecker and
to various kinds of vermin. Soon they will be
brought to the studio as well.
As I told you before, I want to unite kindred
worlds in my work. I strongly believe in the
complexity of an image, the different layers of
a sculpture. There are several elements that I
would like to bring together in one installation.
All of which I think are relevant to this particular
situation; first of all there is my personal
experience with the storm. Of course there
is your work, that I spent the whole of last
summer rereading and that keeps lingering
in my mind. The story of the old woman and
the cats inspired me in a very personal and
profound way.
And then there is the city of Venice, whose
historical importance I would like to integrate
in a more abstract way. I will be going to Venice
this January, to do some research on Saint
Sebastian. Through the centuries Saint Sebastian
became the symbol of Venice. I feel this is
where I could make a connection to my work,
but I am still looking for a way to integrate this
character without having it visually present.
Saint Sebastian has a strong connection with
Venice. As a protector of possible plague victims,
he became one of the most portrayed saints in
a city that was severely hit by the Black Death.
You can find an innumerable amount of Saint
Sebastian images and sculptures in Venice.
I have worked with this character before.
It's an historical icon that appeals to me very
strongly, and that I would like to take with
me in my story.
It's his stubbornness, mostly, that attracts
me. This young officer in the Roman army,
tortured to death, as he would not deny his
Christian faith. The stoical acceptance of his
fate, the pride in his posture that remains
una$ected. Not a glimpse of pain in his expression.
The arrows do not seem to harm him,
although they are penetrating his body. This
tells me something about his mental state;
he embodies a combination of beauty and
self-contempt, a mystical pain.
His body has a very dual attractive force; there is
a pleasure to this pain of the penetrating arrows.
A pleasure that can be compared to the pleasure
that Saint Julian finds in the hunt. A representation
of power, perhaps. The painters or the
sculptors pleasure to depict a beautiful male
nude. The pleasure of penetrating the body
with these arrows that hardly cause any wounds,
hardly cause any blood to flow. The pleasure
of the forbidden, the inaccessible.
In connection to the plague, it was a common
belief that the plague was spread by divine
arrows. Saint Sebastian survived these arrows
and therefore became the protector of possible
plague victims.
The Black Death.
The bond (connection / liaison) with the tree.
Two thoughts I would like to take with me in
my story. The Black Death: a huge and overwhelming
phenomenon, hardly controllable at
the time, and therefore something we associate
with insecurity, vulnerability and fear and
danger. This atmosphere is something I would
like to translate into my work.
[...]
Curatori : J.M. Coetzee
Artisti : Berlinde De Bruyckere
Web site : http:/www.belgianpavilion.be |
