Middle Gate

    NLEN

    The exhibition project Middle Gate II – The Story of Dymphna is a collaboration between M HKA (Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp) and the cultural centre de Werft in Geel. Middle Gate II is the follow up to the exhibition Middle Gate, curated by Jan Hoet in Geel in 2013. The exhibition concept is closely tied to the legend of the holy Dymphna, saint of the possessed, the mentally ill and patroness against epilepsy and insanity. The legend of Dymphna shares a strong connection to the identity of Geel, "the charitable city".

    Jacques Charlier

    Back
    (c)image: M HKA
    Dessins Humoristiques (André Cadéré), 1975
    Jacques Charlier
    Drawing , 30,5 x 21,5 cm
    paper, collage, east-indian ink

    In the Sixties and Seventies, Jacques Charlier makes a series of caricatures and comic strips parodying the world of art.  Not accidentally, he chooses popular mediums that do not really fit into 'Art with a capital A', namely the comic strip and the caricature, to express his views on an art milieu that often takes itself so seriously.  He ridicules the pretention of many artists and the theories constructed and promoted within these circles.  In this series, various figures are given a good going over: artists Dan Graham, Daniel Buren and André Cadéré, gallery owners Fernand Spillemaeckers and Elisabeth Rona, critic Jean-Pierre Van Tieghem and Karel Geirlandt, the former director of the Association for Exhibitions at Brussels' Paleis voor Schone Kunsten.  The drawings are mainly for the delectation of the 'inaugurated', for those in the know about the art world and the figures who play a role there.  The more the viewer is in touch with the art scene, the more he or she can appreciate the layerdness of Charlier's work here.

    Back