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".

    Marlene Dumas

    Back
    (c)image: Syb'l. S. - Pictures
    Sailor's Dream, 1996
    Marlene Dumas
    Drawing , 125 x 70 cm
    watercolour, paper

    'I use all the cheap tricks of attracting attention: eyes looking at you, sexual parts exposed or deliberately covered. The primitive pull of recognition. The image as prostitute. You are forced to say yes or no.' - Marlene Dumas

    Interestingly, it is the female nude, one of the canonical forms of Western art history, that occupies a central place in Marlene Dumas’ watercolours. At first glance, the watercolours from the MD–Pin Up Series: Blind Joy, Indian Summer, Mis-Cast, Sailor’s Dream and Slight Delight seem devoid of the embittered, lugubrious undertone that is characteristic of much of Dumas’ work in oil; they appear as symbols of a certain pleasure that may prove more empowering than we are willing to admit as we enter the minefield of post-feminist gender politics. However, the paintings are based on Polaroids Dumas made during a visit to a notorious Amsterdam strip club named Casa Rosso, as well as on photographs cut out of pornographic magazines.

    Back