Berlinde de Bruyckere
Friday, 22 May 2009
I cam across this Belgian sculptor recently and her work just blew me away. Her visually-arresting sculptures seem to reflect torture, pain and suffering in life - disturbing notions that I try to shy away from. It’s really a culmination of carcass, wild butchery and rotting flesh. Take Marthe, as pictured below:
A life-size, frail, sallow decapitated figure wrought of wax, Marthe is pulled to the ground by “the grotesque roots that grow from her shoulders. Unable to escape from social and self-inflicted pressures, the strangely beautiful creature hunches in agony as she succumbs to unbearable suffering.” (Scallywag & Vagabond)
“Inspecting the surfaces, you find that they are replete with detail, with subtle flourishes of bulging veins and rippling muscles. Yet their various bodily clefts reveal torn and ragged cavities, offering a glimpse into hollow insides — once again, the human body reduced to a bag.” (Artnet)
Pictures sourced from Saatchi Gallery.