Winter Harvest
Ana Prvački, Naama Tsabar, Joris Van de Moortel & Andy Wauman
open: wo.–zo. 10:00–17:00
Naama Tsabar (born 1982, Israel, lives and works in New York) takes the emotional loaded experience of the night life as a starting point for her tactile sculptures, installations and performances. She uses sound and materials from the music culture such as felt, plywood and black gaffer tape to evoke a twilight zone between personal and public memory. Her interest in the relationship between body, object and space is reminiscent of the minimalism and post-minimalism from the years 1960–70. For Winter Harvest Naama Tsabar resumes Gaffer Wall
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Andy Wauman
The poetic-anarchist works from Belgian artist Andy Wauman (born 1975, Antwerp, lives and works in Bali) draw their inspiration from his personal, inner world, which the artist relates to existing social structures. Influenced by the Eastern culture in Bali, Andy Wauman created a series of new works with a strong spiritual impact for Winter Harvest. Existential philosophies, rituals and visual symbols from among others Hinduism and Buddhism are at the origin of these intuitive creations. Equally important is the idea of Western escapism, the sense of freedom, the
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surf culture and the palm trees of the tropical island are recurrent motives throughout the exhibition. This universe is reflected in silkscreened flags, videos, photographic works and a sculptural sound installation presenting Wauman’s new musical album Black Waves.
Joris Van de Moortel
On the one hand the works of Joris Van de Moortel (born 1983, Oostakker, lives and works in Hoboken) embody the excessive atmosphere of music culture. On the other hand the mixed-media paintings, sculptures and figurative drawings are influenced by the experimental “musique concrète”. The process-based nature of his creations shines through in the imagery of the organically grown works. The sculptures and installations in Winter Harvest were created from leftovers of performances
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7 Andy Wauman, Paradise Alley, 2015, silent film, shot on super 8, courtesy of the artist and Deweer Gallery, Otegem
or from materials previously ‘introduced’ by Van de Moortel inother existing works. In these assemblies, functional elements such as neon lights, guitars, microphones and electrical wires are transformed into a meaningful visual entity. Such materials provide the artist with the necessary freedom and dynamism to conceive energetically charged works.
8 Andy Wauman, The Palmtree Diaries, 2016, silent film, shot on super 8, courtesy of the artist and Deweer Gallery, Otegem 9 Andy Wauman, Anukramani, 2016, sequence of 9 stills out of the film The Palmtree Diaries, lambda print, courtesy of the artist and Deweer Gallery, Otegem 10 Joris Van de Moortel, A Sunday Mess, De 7 sacramenten (glas, vuur, wit, was, rook, natuur, vandaal), 2017, neon, plexiglass, wood, Duratrans print, microphone, resin, fabric, steel chain, amplifier, guitar, bird, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Brussels-Paris Joris Van de Moortel
Naama Tsabar
Ana Prvački, Porcupine score, 2016 (page 1 of 18), courtesy of the artist
In her work artist Ana Prvački (born 1976, Serbia, lives and works in Los Angeles) approaches eroticism and etiquette in a light-hearted and playful way, aiming to reveal their underlying socio-political codes. The conceptual practice of Ana Prvački balances between different disciplines and explores, in particular, the boundaries between the physical, material object and the ephemeral nature of performance and music. In the works exhibited during Winter Harvest, Prvački examines the inherent relationship between art and eroticism. Several (art) historical sources are important to her, such as Roman effigies of the divine Fascinus, Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde, the Japanese erotic prints Shunga and Wilhelm Reich’s theory of orgone energy. Her sensual iconic
(Twilight), originally from 2006, the first work of a series of works the artist made with gaffer tape. This in situ installation uses the architecture of the Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens to create a performative environment. The Works on Felt are both a sculpture and a string instrument. They invite the viewer to interact in order to experience an intimate moment and to revise the perceptual distinction between object, performance and sound.
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Andy Wauman, Triumphs, 2016
Ana Prvački
language and humorous undertone confront us with contemporary taboos and manners. The works simultaneously stimulate the viewer to imagine alternatives for our understanding of Western ‘decency’.
Naama Tsabar, Work On Felt (Variation 12), Burgundy, 2016
Winter Harvest is a group exhibition bringing together four young artists from Belgium and abroad for whom music, subculture and performances are important sources of inspiration. Originating in their personal fascination with certain cultural phenomena and everyday codes, the artists enter in dialogue with each other but also with the exhibition space. Despite the diversity of their visual language, these intuitive works inspire associations with notions of freedom, escape and eroticism. Winter Harvest appeals first of all to the senses of the viewer, where immaterial forms such as light, sound and movement prevail. These artists will complement this ‘vibrating’ space with a series of new performances.
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1 Ana Prvački, Penis bonus, pax in domus, 2016, bronze, courtesy of the artist and 1301PE Gallery, California, USA 2 Ana Prvački, Porcupine score, 2016, pencil on paper, courtesy of the artist and 1301PE Gallery, California, USA 3 Ana Prvački, Untitled, 2016, fabric, music stands, courtesy of the artist and 1301PE Gallery, California, USA 4 Ana Prvački, Tent, Quartet, Bows and Elbows, 2007, performance, video, courtesy of the artist and 1301PE Gallery, California, USA 5 Joris Van de Moortel, Bagdrop + Fender, 2017, bulg bag, (orange) corde, wood, drum, acrylic (paint), bronze, cast of guitars in resin, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Brussels-Paris 6 Naama Tsabar, Twilight (Gaffer Wall), 2006, 2017, gaffer tape on wall, courtesy of the artist and Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv
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11 Naama Tsabar, Work On Felt (Variation 11), Dark Blue, 2016, carbon fiber, epoxy, wood, felt, microphone, guitar amplifier, courtesy of the artist and Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv 12 Naama Tsabar, Work On Felt (Variation 12), Burgundy, 2016, carbon fiber, epoxy, wood, felt, microphone, guitar amplifier, courtesy of the artist and Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv 13 Joris Van de Moortel, Winter Harvest (prei in de klei), 2017, neon, plexiglass, wood, Duratrans print, microphone, resin, fabric, steel chain, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Brussels-Paris 14 Andy Wauman, Triumphs, 2016, 10 flags, silk screen batik on baby cottin canvas, courtesy of the artist and Deweer Gallery, Otegem 15 Andy Wauman, hRdaya, 2016, sculptural sound installation, including Black Waves, 2016 (vinyl record) and Dharma, 2016 (glass neon), courtesy of the artist and Deweer Gallery, Otegem 16 Joris Van de Moortel, The recording sessions of Girard Kanard Vol II on July 4th., 2017, plexiglass, pencil, watercolor and frame steel, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia, BrusselsParis
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Ornament for Indifferent Architecture
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Kamrooz Aram
Indifferent Ornament for Architecture is the first museum exhibition of Kamrooz Aram (born 1978, Iran, lives and works in New York). His varied oeuvre often deals with the complex relationship between modern painting and ornament. Through the use of a variety of media including painting, collage and sculpture, Aram seeks a renegotiation of the hierarchical values inherent in art history. The viewer is challenged to reconsider the supposedly lesser position of the decorative arts as something inferior to modern art, which is often associated with individualist expression and originality.
open: wo.–zo. 10:00–17:00
Aram’s sculptural works highlight the significance of exhibition design in shaping our understanding of the antiquities we view in museums. Encyclopedic museums such as the Louvre or the Metropolitan Museum of Art utilise distinct methods of exhibition design in effort to create a ‘neutral’ setting for the objects on display. However, the museum setting, according to Aram, is never neutral. For Aram, exhibition design and architecture is as important as the object itself in conveying meaning to the viewer. Using architectural materials such as brass, wood, and terrazzo, he creates works that focus as much on the formal qualities of design and
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Additionally, Aram presents works from his collage series titled Ancient Through Modern. These collages contain pages from mid-century catalogues documenting ancient Persian art. Just as with the encyclopedic museum, the books from which the artist sources these images present ancient Persian art in
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an essentially modernist context. The graphic design and photographic style of the books are crucial for our perception and understanding of the objects they represent. Aram makes this explicit by referring to modern art. The pages with Persian art are as such adhered to linen canvases reminiscent of minimalist drawing and color-field painting.
Ancient Through Modern 27, 2017
Kamrooz Aram explores the potential of pattern and ornament to function as an essential element in painting. In the Western history of modernist art, which strove doggedly for the autonomy of this medium, the ornamental was met with disdain. The architect Adolf Loos declared in his famous 1908 essay Ornament and Crime (Ornament und Verbrechen) that ornament is superfluous and meaningless. Loos proposed that ornament was only acceptable for the non-Western cultures that he deemed to be inferior to modern Europeans. Nevertheless, since antiquity, for many cultures, ornament functioned as more than mere decoration and was employed as a meaningful, even conceptual, element in art and architecture. In his paintings, Kamrooz Aram combines ornamental motifs taken from Persian carpets with geometric patterns reminiscent of vernacular modernist architecture. These painterly compositions appear to be in a state of flux: building up, scraping down and wiping away paint in search
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display as they do on the objects displayed. In these works, the paintings have a dual role as both significant artworks and as passive backdrops to the objects on display. The painting, pedestal and objects can only be viewed in relation to one another. The artist does not provide wall labels identifying the displayed objects, challenging the viewer to think beyond the typical analysis of cultural significance, authenticity, authorship and provenance.
Ornament for Indifferent Architecture (1), 2017
Kamrooz Aram
of a fleeting resolution. In the end, this process is visible, as the various forms of ornament struggle for dominance with painterly gestures.
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Essential to all of Kamrooz Aram’s work is a commitment to the emotional and spiritual experience with contemporary art, something that is often dismissed by academia as leading to subjectivity or sentimentality. This notion is contained in the title of the exhibition Ornament for Indifferent Architecture. The title responds to a statement from the Mexican architect Luis Barragán who aimed for an emotional form of architecture. Kamrooz Aram believes that ornament — and art in general — can have the power to transform trivial or ‘indifferent’ architecture into emotional architecture.
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1 from the series Ancient Through Modern, 2016, book pages, book cloth, and pencil on board with walnut frame, courtesy of the artist and Green Art Gallery, Dubai 2 Ornamental Composition for Social Spaces (2), 2016, oil, oil crayon, wax and colour pencil on canvas 3 Ornament for Indifferent Architecture, 2017, oil, oil crayon, wax and colour, pencil on canvas 4 Ornament for Indifferent Architecture, 2017, oil, oil crayon, wax and colour pencil on canvas 5 Ornament for Indifferent Architecture, 2017, oil, oil crayon, wax and colour pencil on canvas 6 Ornament for Indifferent Architecture, 2017, oil, oil crayon, wax and colour pencil on canvas 7 Ornament for Indifferent Architecture, 2017, oil, oil crayon, wax and colour pencil on canvas 8 A Monument for Living In Defeat, 2016, oil, oil crayon, wax and colour pencil on canvas, terrazzo and brass on panel, pedestals: solid walnut and brass pedestals, sculptures: soapstone and alabaster 9 Ornamental Composition for Social Spaces (1), 2016, oil, oil crayon, wax and colour pencil on canvas 10 from the series Ancient Through Modern, 2016, postcards, colour pencil and book cloth on linen 11 Ephesian Fog, 2016, wood, terrazzo and brass pedestal, ceramic vase, acrylic, oil and pencil on linen 12 from the series Ancient Through Modern, 2016, book pages and colour pencil on linen 13 from the series Ancient Through Modern, 2017, bronze objects, oil and colour pencil on linen
MISSION STATEMENT The museum Dhondt-Dhaenens is a private foundation recognised by the Flemish government. As a museum it makes publicly accessible important modern and contemporary private collections with a social relevance. As a contemporary art centre it aims to play an active role in the international art field. BOARD OF DIRECTORS Jan Steyaert* (voorzitter), Bie Hooft-De Smul* (ondervoorzitter), Lieve Andries-Van Louwe, Frank Benijts*, Bieke Clerinx, Luc De Pesseroey, Franciska Decuypere, Karel De Meulemeester, Stéphanie Donck, André Gordts, Marianne Hoet*, Agnes LannooVan Wanseele, Filiep Libeert, Damien Mahieu, Dirk Matthys, Michel Moortgat, Christian Mys, Serge Platel, Laurence Soens, Patricia Talpe, Paul Thiers*, Jef Van den Heede*, Johan van Geluwe, Katrien Van Hulle, Tanguy Van Quickenborne*, Olivier Vandenberghe, Jocelyne Vanthournout (*uitvoerend comité) STAFF MEMBERS Joost Declercq (directeur), Jan(us) Boudewijns, Charlotte Crevits, Tanguy Eeckhout, Monique Famaey, Lies Leliaert, Beatrice Pecceu, Gerry Vanbillemont, Rik Vannevel PATRONS Rinaldo Castelli, Virginie Cigrang, Benedicte De Pauw, Michel Delfosse, Arnold Devroe, Regine Dumolin, Miene Gillion, Eric & Marc Hemeleers, Marianne Hoet, Luc Keppens, Marc Maertens, Paul Thiers, Tanguy Van Quickenborne, Leo Van Tuyckom, Pierre Verschaffel en anonieme leden BENEFACTORS Advocatenkantoor Keirsmaekers, Zeno X Gallery en anonieme schenkers STRUCTURAL SPONSORS Christie’s, Eeckman Art & Insurance, Eland EXHIBITION SPONSORS BNP Paribas Fortis, Bank Degroof Petercam, Limited Edition CORPORATE CLUB Atlas Reizen, Barista Coffee & Cake, Bio Bakkerij De Trog, bROODSTOP, Deloitte Bedrijfsrevisoren, Deloitte Fiduciaire, Duvel Moortgat, Filliers, Houthandel Lecoutere, Jet Import, Mobull Art Packers and Shippers, Pentacon bvba, Stone, Van Den Weghe, Westmalle MEDIA PARTNER Klara
14 from the series Ancient Through Modern, 2016, book pages, oil and colour pencil on linen 15 Reluctant Descent, 2016, wood, terrazzo and brass pedestal, bronze and iron objects, oil and pencil on linen
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