Galleria Laura
Pecci will be presenting wim delvoye for its maiden
show. Delvoye was born in Wervik, Belgium in 1965, and started his artistic career in
1986.
He takes part in shows
all over the world and has participated in many of the most prestigious cultural events
such as Aperto at the Biennale of Venice 1990, Documenta IX in Kassel 1992, Post
Human in Pully (Lausanne) 1992 and again the Biennale of Venice in 1999.
His work is part of
important private and publioc collections: Castello di Rivoli (Torino),
Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), Stedelijk Museum voor Aktuele Kunst (Gent,
Belgium).
delvoye’s
work shown at Galleria Laura Pecci is new to the italian public. Its themes are pigs
and skin.
For the first time, Eddy
and Marcel - two adult pigs - will be shown in a private art gallery.
They have been
tattooed on their back and hind legs by the artist. In doing so, he has claimed their
right to live, withdrawing them from their destiny as butcher’s meat by making them
icons. The two pigs will never be eaten, and will die a natural death, possibly giving
their hide to a museum. Their message is destined to eternity, their skin sustenance for
culture.
The exhibition
features the following other work by delvoye:
In “Marble
Floors” (printed color transparencies, 1999, 125 x 165 cm.) and “Embroidered
Hams” (printed color transparencies, 1999, 30 x 40 cm.), pieces of pigskin have been
cut small and put together as an elegant mosaic and a mat decorated with small stitches of
colored embroidery thread. This is Delvoye’s aesthetically pleasing yet bittersweet
way of turning animal products back into things that are unique, alive and warm - away
from sterility, commerce and anonimity.
“Love
Letter” (20 printed color transparencies, 1999, 125 x 165 cm.) is a love letter
written with potato peels in arabic, and was made in response to an earlier piece
commissioned to the artist for the new Parliament Building in Brussels.
wim delvoye is known for his ability to use common and even
banal objects as veichles for provocative statements in an artistic context. By adding
elements of craftmanship such as tattos, inlay and embroidery, delvoye
goes beyond the intellectual idea of Duchamp and brings ready-mades back to life. |
