Jos De Gruyter & Harald Thys
07 Feb - 04 May 2014
JOS DE GRUYTER & HARALD THYS
Das Wunder des Lebens (The Miracle of Life)
7 February - 4 May 2014
Curators: Lucas Gehrmann, Nicolaus Schafhausen
The works by Jos de Gruyter and Harald Thys are dedicated to the absurdity of everyday life and, in their first solo show in Austria, they challenge the public to find orientation in between truth and fiction: around 400 drawings which, according to the artists show everything we can imagine, are mounted on a formation of numerous room-divider “barricades”. Whereas the order of the pictures follows no specific principle, effectively declaring all things in the world to be equal, the system on which they are mounted is strictly organised. At the centre is a sculptural fountain with three faces cast from styrofoam heads found in a German shop window which have a complete overview of a colourless and soundless scenario.
With their black humour, critical reflections and almost banal style of making the multimedia works, the two Belgian artists also always direct the viewer’s attention to art’s subversive potential. This “Miracle of Life” proves to be highly ambivalent especially when it casts a glance into a historical past which is all too often suppressed.
Jos de Gruyter (*1965) and Harald Thys (*1966) live in Brussels and have been working together since the end of the 1980s. Exhibitions in 2013 incl.: Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst / M HKA, Antwerp; 55. Biennale di Venezia.
In cooperation with the Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst / M HKA, Antwerp
Das Wunder des Lebens (The Miracle of Life)
7 February - 4 May 2014
Curators: Lucas Gehrmann, Nicolaus Schafhausen
The works by Jos de Gruyter and Harald Thys are dedicated to the absurdity of everyday life and, in their first solo show in Austria, they challenge the public to find orientation in between truth and fiction: around 400 drawings which, according to the artists show everything we can imagine, are mounted on a formation of numerous room-divider “barricades”. Whereas the order of the pictures follows no specific principle, effectively declaring all things in the world to be equal, the system on which they are mounted is strictly organised. At the centre is a sculptural fountain with three faces cast from styrofoam heads found in a German shop window which have a complete overview of a colourless and soundless scenario.
With their black humour, critical reflections and almost banal style of making the multimedia works, the two Belgian artists also always direct the viewer’s attention to art’s subversive potential. This “Miracle of Life” proves to be highly ambivalent especially when it casts a glance into a historical past which is all too often suppressed.
Jos de Gruyter (*1965) and Harald Thys (*1966) live in Brussels and have been working together since the end of the 1980s. Exhibitions in 2013 incl.: Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst / M HKA, Antwerp; 55. Biennale di Venezia.
In cooperation with the Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst / M HKA, Antwerp