Troubleyn | Jan Fabre

TRIBUTE TO HIERONYMUS BOSCH IN CONGO (2011 - 2013). TRIBUTE TO BELGIAN CONGO (2010 - 2013)

With this two-chapter exhibition Jan Fabre continues elaborating his critical reflections on the Belgium’s colonial past, a theme that appeared in his oeuvre in 2002 when he used millions of beetle wings to created a monumental ceiling painting “Heaven of Delight” for the Royal Palace of Belgium in Brussels. The first chapter, entitled “Tribute to Belgian Congo”, is inspired by the enslavement of millions of Congolese and the atrocities committed against them as well as the greed of the colonialists, who stole as much as possible of the natural riches the country had to offer. Fabre depicts the brand logos and products of companies that co-organized the horrors in the name of profit, the whole pride of Belgian industrialists of the late 19th century.

The second chapter of the exhibition, called “Tribute to Hieronymus Bosch in Congo”, deals with the absurdity and horror of what happened in the country in a more symbolical way, using both the iconography and imagery of paintings by Hieronymus Bosch. The works give artistic form to evil deeds and stand as an arresting critique of the folly that ensues when men lose their bearings in life.

“With this collection of mosaics, Jan Fabre has created a great epic on terror in beauty as a reflection of our own dark being. The works for PinchukArtCentre are saturated with history and many stories – of life and death and of never-ending beauty, revealed as a dazzling counterpoint to the terror of the crimes committed…Jan Fabre is surely one of the most important artists of our time.” -Eckhard Schneider

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