Berlinde De Bruyckere

Berlinde De Bruyckere (* 1964 in Ghent , Belgium ) is a Belgian artist.

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Berlinde De Bruyckere creates sculptures, installations and drawings that at first glance seem easy to read and accessible, only to gradually open up further layers of meaning.

Central themes of De Bruyckere's work are the vulnerability of humans and nature, the human need for protection 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. The used, patterned woolen blankets, which the artist has been using for various sculptures and installations since the early 1990s, symbolize not only protection and warmth, but also vulnerability and fear; they not only seem to provide security, but also to be able to suffocate.

The works by Berlinde De Bruyckere form a personal microcosm made up of a few recurring, symbolic elements: In addition to the numerous works in which woolen blankets are used, there are installations in which trees play a central role as symbols of life, as well as the groups of female and horse figures. The different groups of works are not strictly separate, parallel work strands, but are also merged and mixed together by the artist and put together to form new compositions. One work seems to already contain the next in itself or to continue and deepen the thought that was laid out in the previous one.

Exhibitions

Berlinde de Bruyckere received international attention when her sculptures were shown in the Italian pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2003 . Important solo exhibitions have taken place at Hauser & Wirth Zurich (2004), at Maison Rouge, Fondation Antoine de Galbert, Paris (2005), at the De Pont Foundation for Contemporary Art, Tilburg (2005) and at the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (2006; together with Martin Honert) instead. She also took part in ARS 06 at KIASMA Helsinki (2006) and the Berlin Biennale (2006). In 2010 the Galleria continua in San Gimignano , Province of Siena in Tuscany showed her installation elie .

Web links

• Literature by and about Berlinde De Bruyckere in the catalog of the German National Library
• Berlinde De Bruyckere at Hauser & Wirth Zurich London