David Claerbout. Photo: Allison Bellido Espichan, Courtesy of Musée de l’Orangerie
David Claerbout
PROJECT
Continuing David Claerbout’s preoccupation with perception, time and temporality, Birdcage sees a picturesque garden suddenly transformed by an explosion, shifting a peaceful scene into one of chaos and destruction. Referencing Surrealist artist René Magritte’s numerous L’Empire des lumières (The dominion of light) paintings, created between 1949 and 1964, Birdcage replaces the surreal contrast between day and night in those works with a new juxtaposition of violence with pastoral serenity.
The acquisition of this artist’s work is supported by Orloff Family Foundation
ABOUT
Originally trained in painting and drawing, David Claerbout studied at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and at the Rijksakademie of Visual Arts in Amsterdam. In 2002 he participated in the German Academic Exchange Service’s Berlin Artists-in-Residence program. His practice spans photography, video and digital media but is rooted in a strong painterly sensibility. By using contemporary imaging techniques, he produces ultra-hybrid works that sit between still and moving image, challenging the viewer’s perception and dissolving the boundaries between photographic and virtual representation. His work is held in major international public collections including the Centre Pompidou, Paris (France), Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (Germany), and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (US). Claerbout has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions internationally, including at the Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris (France), Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei (Taiwan), and Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Winterthur (Switzerland). He lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium, and Berlin, Germany.