Bearbeitete Dokumentarfotografien aus der Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts, die Menschen so zeigen, als würde man sie in 200 Jahren betrachten. Stereotypen, keine realen Personen. Das sind Michaël Borremans’ Arbeiten. Seine Bilder beunruhigen durch ihre klischierte Schönheit, aber man wird auch mit alltäglichen Motiven von Gewalt, Folter und Verstümmelung und mit Fragen der Moralität konfrontiert, wie in der Zeichnung „The Swimming Pool“, wo der Satz „People Must be Punished“ auf die Brust eines Jungen geschrieben wird. Seine Kunst ist unmittelbar und zwingt den Betrachter, über die Welt und den Umgang mit ihr nachzudenken.
Hatje Cantz Verlag
€ 24,80/sFr 45
ISBN 978-3-7757-2130-1 · Engl.
Hatje Cantz Verlag
€ 24,80/sFr 45
ISBN 978-3-7757-2130-1 · Engl.
„I think my work actually does have a particular Belgian touch: it could have been created only in Belgium,“ says Michaël Borremans. He has drawn since his childhood but it was only in the mid-90s that he began to paint. „A drawing is something that one has to enter into whilst a painting invades one; it’s not something one can evade. A painting always represents an autonomous space. The painting is beyond suspicion; it is an instrument of the imagination and – at least in our times – does not aspire to document anything.“
The style of Borremans’ works appears anachronistic. The paper on which he draws is often old, too, and suggests one might be leafing through an old book. He mostly works with documentary photographs from the mid-twentieth century, which show 20th century people as they might appear to someone looking at them 200 years from now: as stereotypes rather than as real people.
Violence, torture and mutilation are also major themes in his work, because they are very everyday phenomena. „The context we live in, the contrasts, the ubiquitous absurdity – all have decisively contributed to my worldview. On the other hand, I also believe that there is something universal in my images.“
© JAM Publications 2008
The style of Borremans’ works appears anachronistic. The paper on which he draws is often old, too, and suggests one might be leafing through an old book. He mostly works with documentary photographs from the mid-twentieth century, which show 20th century people as they might appear to someone looking at them 200 years from now: as stereotypes rather than as real people.
Violence, torture and mutilation are also major themes in his work, because they are very everyday phenomena. „The context we live in, the contrasts, the ubiquitous absurdity – all have decisively contributed to my worldview. On the other hand, I also believe that there is something universal in my images.“
© JAM Publications 2008
