Mucciaccia Gallery is delighted to present “Songs of the Gypsies (A Tribute to Django Reinhardt and Django Gennaro Fabre)”, a solo show by worldwide known Belgian artist Jan Fabre at our London location. It constitutes the second and final chapter of a new body of works never before exhibited, meticulously carved in white Carrara marble, after the successful opening of its first chapter “Songs of the Canaries (A Tribute to Emiel Fabre and Robert Stroud)”, running until November 23rd. November 29th will be the public opening of this upcoming second part of the exhibition. It presents brandnew impressive pieces made with the sculptural stone from centuries-old tradition but enlivened by the visionary Belgian master, alongside an astonishing collection of colourful, original drawings.
The heart of the exhibition consists of three large marble sculptures combining iconographic tradition and contemporary innovation, personal life and universal meanings. Fabre weaves the image of an out of scale child - his son at the age of 5 1/2 months but as tall as his father - into a symphony of existence. The dramaturgy of the exhibition begins on a personal note: he named his firstborn son Django Gennaro, where Django refers to Django Reinhardt, a Belgian virtuoso gypsy jazz guitarist, acclaimed by musicians of all genres as brilliant and innovative. Reinhardt had managed to excel and invent a personal musical genre from a major disadvantage: a severe impairment in his left hand from an accident as a boy. The artist chose to dedicate the exhibition to these two important people in his life, sources of inspiration for his art. From this intimate starting point, the rhythm of life stretches and swells into a universal cadence.
The delicate forms of babies take on a metaphysical dimension in Fabre’s hands, beckoning us to reflect on the mystery of creation, the fragility of existence and the elusive chase for spiritual transcendence. These ethereal creatures are also jazzed-up messengers, inviting us to orchestrate their existential exploration. Indeed, music plays a central role in this exhibition. Reinhardt’s gypsy jazz and life appear on sculptures and drawings as symbols very dear to Jan Fabre, who grew up indeed with his music thanks to the passion and musical knowledge of his father Edmond Fabre.
In the setup, everything is immersed in the colours of the childish painting with which his son Django paints on A4 sheets without rules or fears a world without boundaries or appearances as if it were an improvised and eternal jam session drawn by four hands between father and son. Like a multi-dimensional musical score that transports us to the notes of “Minor Swing,” “Nuages,” or “Manoir de Mes Rêves,” - Reinhardt's most famous pieces - the works transport us to a world of concrete dreams, of lives made of art. It is a noble dance, a slow swing between the infinitely small and the infinitely vast. It is an artistic invitation to contemplate the frailty and splendor of the human condition.
Drawing deeply from the wellsprings of the old symbolism, Fabre reframes ancient metaphors in ways that resonate with contemporary concerns about the body, the soul, and the nature of art. The works pulse with a fresh, almost uncanny energy, drawing from deep European traditions but injecting them with a contemporary twist. Fabre keeps improvising on his themes, circling a familiar phrase but always twisting it, making it new and universal.
Born in Antwerp in 1958, Jan Fabre is a leading innovator and one of the most influential figures in the international contemporary art world. Known for his contributions to visual art, theater and literature, he is the first living artist to hold large-scale solo exhibitions at prestigious institutions such as the Louvre Museum in Paris in 2008 and the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg in 2017. He remains the only artist to have received the honor of the Cour d’Honneur at the Festival of Avignon on three separate occasions (2001, 2005, and 2006), and the only contemporary artist commissioned to create a new work for the Felsenreitschule at the Salzburg Festival in 2007.
Songs of the Gypsies (A Tribute to Django Reinhardt and Django Gennaro Fabre)
Exhibition Dates: October 12th - November 23rd, 2024
Mucciaccia Gallery
21 Dering Street, London W1S 1AL
https://mucciaccia.com/en/mucciaccia-exhibitions/
