Jan Fabre - Folklore Sexuel Belge

In Vienna in July all eyes are fixed on the Belgian universal artist Jan FABRE.
Within ImPulsTanz Festival he will realize the world premiere of "Belgian Rules/Belgium Rules" and at Leopold Museum Wien the retrospective "Jan Fabre. Stigmata" can be seen.
At Mario Mauroner Contemporary Art Vienna we will present on July 7 his new work series: "Folklore Sexuel Belge. Édité et Offert par Jan Fabre, Le Bon Artiste Belge."
Together with Jan Fabre we are looking forward welcoming you at our gallery!

"Folklore Sexuel Belge. Édité et Offert par Jan Fabre, Le Bon Artiste Belge" is a reminiscence of the currently most noticed Belgian artist to the long tradition of Belgian Carnival. The grotesque and arnachic elements of carnival assume new form as twenty-two coloured pencil drawings and three objects.
Framed by baroque looking gold frames and embedded in red velvet those small-format works awake a kind of voyeuristic desire.

Already this form of presentation is a play with different levels of meaning. Each work is provided with a golden plaque on which can be read "Édité et Offert par Jan Fabre. Le Bon Artiste Belge".
At first you think that is a quite self-confident message but than you understand its carnivalesque reference to "Côte d`Or, le bon chocolat Belge", the peoples chocolate.

Essential for the work of Jan Fabre - as presented for instance in 2008 at Paris Louvre, or 2014 "The Years Of Hour Blue" at Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, or recently in 2016/17 with "Knight of Despair/Warrior of Beauty" at Hermitage St. Petersburg - is his reflection on art and cultural history which he continuous through the selected motives and figures of his new work series.
Jan Fabres dialog with the work of the old masters opens up a wide range of associations. His work can also be seen as a continuation of flemisch school. Pieter Brueghel for instance focused on peoples daily life and was interested in everyday situations of all kind of social classes, - Jan Fabre continous this tradition, as the title of his new work series "Folklore Sexuel Belge" points out.

Another main issue is the topic of metamorphosis. The symbol of fire in "The Fires of St. Martin" as a sign of destruction and a new beginning, or, with a wink, in "The chickens being fed" with hens as symbol of sexual reproduction, questions of metamorphosis are omnipresent. Jan Fabre takes us with "Goliath, the biggest Belgian giant" who shows his lust in public or with "A nun in the Beguinage" who takes care of penises growing in flower pots on a carnivalistic-ambiguous journey.