JAN FABRE. GOLD AND BLOOD (SCULPTURES AND DRAWINGS)

Start date: 18/05/2017

End date: 30/06/2017

Location: Art Bärtschi & Cie, Genève

Solo Exhibition

Art Bärtschi & Cie is pleased to present Gold and Blood (Sculptures and Drawings), the third personal exhibition of the Belgian artist Jan Fabre at the gallery.

Fascinated by the work of the French entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre (1823–1915), Jan Fabre structured his work around a typology where man and animal come together in a common domain with a universal language. The spiritual significance of gold revives their forgotten glory and lends the whole a sacred kind of entomology, acquiring a certain immunity through the artist’s hand.

By reinventing their modes of presentation, these sculptures gain a new autonomy by being displayed in consecutive unusual settings. In the space of the gallery, a crosier and a tree of life (or knowledge) are mounted on two beetles. Symbolically, the former is solid enough to support the weak, hooked to catch those who have lost their way, and pointed to spur on the reluctant. The beetle acts like art, a spiritual guide for mankind towards total awareness. Jan Fabre uses religious imagery, made up of gold and solemn figures that demand respect and faith in order to draw the spectator into his own spiritual journey.