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".

    Middle Gate Geel '13

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    Courtesy of the artist and Courtesy Alexander Gray Associates, New York © Ricardo Brey/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
    Troublemaker, 2006
    Ricardo Brey
    Mixed Media , 130 cm x 40 cm x 12 cm
    branch, cap, print, iron

    "As a young artist, I made the move to the Arte Povera because I lacked the money to buy oil and other expensive materials. I made art with everything I got my hands on. I remember an older artist who said: 'Ricardo, tomorrow I have an exhibition. Let's go see what we can find in the street.' That has always been how I've wanted to work."

    (Van Hove, J., Ricardo Brey tekent in het Smak de schepping: Een bloem, een schelp, een visje. In: De Standaard, 11/10/2006, p. 44- 45.)

    According to Ricardo Brey, objects poses a spiritual dimension in their ‘everyday’ state. His sculptures and installations always interact with their spatial environment. This three-dimensional context is important to create the complex combination between recognisable motives and objects that he is known to create. Every detail in his works has a symbolic meaning, as is also the case in Troublemaker. In Breys installation, various mythological tangents merge together and offer a reflection of our perception of time and space. By reintegrating recycled objects into a new context, the viewer reflects on the nothingness of what we call human life, and at the same time at the beauty of this human life. Through various, often hidden, references and allusions the artist achieves a certain timelessness in his work.

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