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, 1979
    Jan Cox
    Painting , 117 x 107 cm
    acrylic on canvas

    Untitled (1979) is indeed perhaps one of Jan Cox's most abstract pieces.  But even here we can recognize a motif that we also see recur in many other of his works.  The black, broken line flanked by the red bow sketching a passage or portal.

    Jan Cox was familiar with Freud, and often made references to his theories in his texts.  In this vein, it is plausible to suggest that this door references the female.  In addition, we can also postulate that this stylized passage, seen from the perspective of Cox's humanist-dualistic philosophy of life, is not the one or the other, but the one and the other - namely, a representation of both the masculine and the feminine.

    Untitled (1979) may be considered rather as an experiment in the run-up to the Calvary series, and has never before been exhibited. 

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