Middle Gate

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    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
    Studie van kleuren, vormen, objecten, materialen
    Jan Cox
    Drawing , 360 x 535 mm
    gouache on paper

    In the manner of Emile Verhaeren, Paul Van Ostaijen, Pierre Alechinsky, Christian Dotrement and (lest we forget) Hugo Claus, Jan Cox also combines 'word' and 'image'.  Or, better said, in numerous sketches and sketchbooks he investigates the processes whereby word transitions into image.  All qualitative relationships between form and color are painstakingly studied, with the purpose being to impart correct expression or sensitivity to the artwork.  Also in Studie van kleuren, vormen, objecten, materialen [Study of colors, forms, objects, materials] he argues that images are in the first instance 'thought'.  An image is formed in the brain and is not the direct consequence of 'the drawn' or painted composition.

    In Studie van kleuren, vormen, objecten, materialen [Study of colors, forms, objects, materials] the poetical nature-symbols (shells, flowers and butterflies) seem to carry the secret of life and the promise of metamorphosis.  The shell, archetypical symbol for the female, for life's mystery, conserves the secret knowledge that the artist strives lifelong to attain.

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