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".

    Jan Cox

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    (c)image:M HKA
    Untitled, 1949
    Jan Cox
    Print , 560 x 440 mm
    lithograph on paper

    At the end of the 1940's Jan Cox produced some splendid works, like the portraits that follow here.  "The feeling of being again-and-again enthralled by the mystery of the uniqueness of a certain individual sets the creative process in motion," writes the artist in an article about the art of portraiture.  Cox's portraiture had also always been an endeavor of restoring human worth, and the beauty contained therein lies in the uniqueness of every individual. 

    "A person's portrait is the image of that someone as it has taken form in the mind of another.  Someone can only be recognized if he is seen by someone else, and that means appreciated.  The portrait bears witness to a person's existence.  A human being only achieves significance in terms of connection with other human beings, and so accrues an extra dimension of reality and authenticity when he is captured as an image.  I think that it provides a natural and just fulfillment for our human self-consciousness, when the portrait remains as constant proof that we have been seen.(Jan Cox, 1964)

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