Middle Gate

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, 1978

Jan Cox

Mixed Media , 260 x 140 x 240 cm

mixed media

In 1950, in the review Tijd en Mens, Jan Cox publishes an article on American art that includes remarks on the art of Edward Hopper. Hopper deeply impressed Cox, inspiring the latter in his painting The Movie House.

“A work like (Hopper's) ‘New York Movie’ transmits, with grim authenticity, the atmosphere of a half-darkened movie theater, the dreamy boredom of the usherette and a glimpse of the illusionary silver screen." (Jan Cox, op.cit., 1950, pp. 287-288)

As Cox further describes the work itself, here the transmitted mood is immediately apparent, and given with great detail and a strongly linear touch.

In Maenade [Maenad], as well, Cox is beholden to Hopper. We see no sketch-like dreamy image, but rather a female head-and-torso, monumentally modeled in a calm, clear execution of line. By virtue of color, the near-sculptured handling of facial parts and the expressionless eyes, it comes over as a painted sculpture, enlivened by the jewelry and flower garland. While her station is rather defined within the space of the painting, it remains unclear as into which context the figure is meant to fit.

In Untitled, Jan Cox again adapts motifs employed in earlier works: the stairs, the podium, the usherette's head and a glimpse of the screen.

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