Berlinde De Bruyckere
Berlinde De Bruyckere (* 1964 in Ghent, Belgium) is a Belgian artist.
Work
Berlinde De Bruyckere creates sculptures, installations and drawings that seem easy to read and accessible at first glance, then to open gradually more layers of meaning.
The central themes of De Bruyckere work are the vulnerability of man and nature, the human need for shelter and warmth, for love and understanding but also the often brutal reality that is dominated by aggression and violence, pain and fear.
Each of her works is characterized by an inherent contradiction. To symbolize the used, patterned rugs, which uses the artist since the early 90s for various sculptures and installations, not only shelter and warmth, but also vulnerability and fear, they seem to give not only security but also to be able to suffocate.
The works of Berlinde De Bruyckere form a personal microcosm, which is composed of a few recurring symbol containing elements: In addition to the many works in which rugs are used, there are installations where play trees as a symbol of life, a central role, and the groups women and horse figures. The various groups are not strictly separate, parallel strands of work, but can also be converted into one another by the artist and mixed and combined to form new compositions. A work seems to be the next in the approach to take in this or the thought that is created in the preceding one, continue and deepen.
Exhibitions
Berlinde de Bruyckere received international attention when her sculptures were shown in 2003 in the Italian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Important solo exhibitions at Hauser & Wirth, Zurich (2004), at the Maison Rouge, Fondation Antoine de Galbert, Paris ( 2005), in the De Pont Foundation for Contemporary Art, Tilburg (2005) and at the Kunsthalle Dusseldorf (2006, with Martin honert ) instead. They also participated in the ARS 06 in Helsinki KIASMA (2006) and in the Berlin Biennale (2006). 2010 showed the Galleria Continua in San Gimignano, Siena in Tuscany elie their installation.