Love for Art from out of the Low Countries: Jan Fabre, Illuminations/Chalcosoma
Love for Art from out of The Low Countries: Jan Fabre, Illuminations/Chalcosoma
Yesterday my fiancée Nathalie and I visited Lille, a wonderful 225.000 inhabitants city in the north of France. The city was founded in the 11th century by Baldwin the Fifth of the very mighty Countship of Flanders. In Dutch the name is derived from Middle Dutch “ter ijsel.” In French from Old French “à l’îsle.” This comes both from Latin “ad insula”: at the island (in river Deule). All inhabitants and tourists, from all over the world, whether western or eastern, African or Arab, smiled back at us when we gave them a smile, and looked like proud, friendly, hard working people, with cute little children, or without.
In the left upper corner Fabre’s famous statue “The man who measures the clouds”
The Museum of Fine Arts in Lille is about the country’s second greatest art collection after the Louvre. Its 22 km2 space + basement floors contain mainly medieval and renaissance works: over 650 top piece paintings by masters such as Brueghel, Donatello, Goya, Rubens, Monet, El Greco, Van Gogh, Seurat, Rafaël, Delacroix, Manet and Van Dyck.
Also over 4000 sketches and drawings, dozens of marble sculptures, and even ancient Egyptian and pre-medieval jewelry, clothes, tools and decoration objects. Here an ancient alabaster tile, and an Egyptian mummy shoe sole.
This is how I believe art saves the world: a magnificent, quiet, peaceful, historic art palace is maintained and visited daily by thousands of construction workers, plumbers, electricians, museum guides, teachers, students, scientists, religious leaders, families with children, and hotel and restaurant owners of a beautiful city with friendly inhabitants. My heart all melted when two weeks ago in Bruges, a museum guard, a pretty, well spoken young Congolese woman, came to bring Nathalie’s purse after my fiancée had left it unattended for a moment.
(check THIS out)
At this very moment Belgian artist Jan Fabre, born a poor boy in the poorest part of Antwerp, who lost his brother Emiel at the age of 12, exhibits in 3 parts of the world. In Bruges (BE) he shows his fourth 4 hour opera, made last year, about the friendship between Nietzsche and Wagner. Fabre wrote the words, directed all stage happenings of both magical and horrific beauty, and led the choreography of strong, good-looking men and women. In Rome (IT) he shows performance movies from the 70s and 80s where we see Jan bic-drawing, dancing, teaching and being very human. In Lille (FR) he shows sculptures where he asks attention for the very hard and disciplined illustration work of medieval monks. Fabre asks attention too for the industrial exploitation of black African miners, appealing to the world to make better arrangements for these people’s payments and working conditions.
[because 6 months ago, one of his employees threw a cat up a little too high, and the animal sprained a paw, Fabre was nearly clubbed to death in a park while jogging, by members of the Occupy and Anonymous movement]
Human rights are not in a society, or a government, or a religion. They are inside of you. The question is not how you defend your rights. The question is how you use them.
Fabre links Bosch to the Democratic Republic of Congo, former Belgian colony, as a moral indictment against the world’s exploitation of Congolese working forces and mining products. He does so by exhibiting bronze sculptures, human skulls and stuffed animals on solid gold plates, and mosaics of beetle shields.
In the museum shop you find not only these superb miniature models of Jheronimus Bosch’s fantasy creatures (I guess the painter himself would love this), but of course also very lovingly assembled books and catalogues at reasonable prices. The craziest book I’ve ever read is Jan Fabre’s “Night Book”: diary of the man’s life, starting to work as an artist worldwide from the age of 18. A true report of how mad a contemporary artist’s life can be: very tough, at times sad and lonely, risky, rather sleepless, also funny, with moments of joy (such as turtle Mieke eating a tomato) and of glory, but basically in total denial of ego, in the name of self sacrifice for all the world’s beauty.
Of course we went to see Jan’s work, but honestly we were very pleasantly surprised by the bewildering yet quiet collection, dividing of awesome rooms and galleries, and above all the kindness of the people.
Manu Bruynseraede looking at a great little painting by Bruges-Antwerp master Joos Van Cleve (1464-1541), who was the father of Corneel Van Cleve, also painter, and nicknamed Sotten Cleef (‘crazy Cleef’).
(by Dirk Bouts) Dirk Bouts was a great Leuven medieval master. I am presently following painting lessons in the academy that is situated in a street named after him.
Fabre did two chapters of his oeuvre, in two giant halls: “Jheronimus Bosch in Congo” and “Illuminations.”
The Belgian artist refers to today Dutch, back then Flemish master Jheronimus Bosch, medieval hermit-painter, who often depicted human sins, in questioning as well as confirming Christian theology.
Fabre states: “Any so called god-like superhuman giving orders, should realize he is no more than the tiniest insect taking orders.”
In the basement hall of the impressive museum, we find not only 18th century huge scale models of a dozen cities, that Sun King Louis XIV designed to be able to besiege these cities. There is also the dialogue Illuminations/Chalcosoma of Jan Fabre, in cooperation with hundreds of people and works from the Middle Ages. In the free tour guide you find a very detailed description of these medieval artefacts: hand written and illustrated (‘illuminated’) Bible copies and prayer books, on which often anonymous monks in monasteries worked meticulously, on the rhythm of nature, their entire lives, in devotion and discipline.
For instance: you find a medieval decoration skull, with a clockwork in its top. Fabre places a bronze skull of his next to it, with a compass in its top. (not in this picture)
Jan Fabre often works with the idea of both physical and mental restraint, and self discipline. By using symbolic objects such as swords, helmets and skulls, or ritual athletic body performances, his work pleads for nature and biology science, and rational use of the healthy, human mind. Many people don’t see that. Many people see things that aren’t there.
I love swords, I collect a few. I love Arabic and Japanese ones, but I prefer Christian medieval ones. This Jan Fabre specimen is no doubt the most sublime sword I’ve ever seen.
Fabre wore this bronze-copper locust helmet in a many hour performance movie once, during which he was dressed in a suit of armor, throwing with heavy hammers and axes, and people tapped blood from his body that he used for drawing. In the end of his art performance he got so exhausted he fainted and needed to be hospitalized.
“For me, death is not an ending. It is a new situation of existence.” (Jan Fabre)
Emmanuel de Witte was a 17th century Dutch painter of (mainly church) interiors. He married twice and had two children. He was a great talent but also always in need of money, and he sometimes embarrassed his highly regarded employer-patrons by destroying his own paintings again after assignment dispute, or by prosecuting them about payment for his painting work. He worked in Delft where he was taught by Evert Van Aelst. Later he moved to Amsterdam to teach pupils and painted the Old Church a lot. He then often fantasized with interior elements, displacing pillars, ornaments and beams. After an altogether prosperous and successful life, he ended up at the age of 75 for a rather stupid reason. Chased by a landlord he decided to hang himself from a bridge over the Singel, but the rope broke, and he froze in the winter water that only thawed 11 weeks later, so his body could be found. Peace be upon the soul of the master who made this very powerful underneath picture.
Manu Bruynseraede returns home after a working day during which he paid … during which he earned … anyway we are working on this.
On this one day trip to Lille I smoked 5 cigarettes. Ieri ho fumato cinque sigarette.
(Manu Bruynseraede, Dec 2013)
