Wim Delvoye

Wim Delvoye (1965, Wervik, Belgium).
Lives and works Ghent (Belgium) and Brighton (UK).

A neo-conceptual artist, Wim Delvoye, is widely recognized for his contemporary art that cleverly combines philosophical ideas, innovative use of materials, and a passion for craftsmanship. He blurs the boundaries between traditional art and the digital realm of contemporary artistic practices, creating aerodynamic, mathematically precise, and intricate sculptures that take the art and design to new levels of invention, while offering a perceptive and playful commentary on contemporary society.

His artistic exploration encompasses various aspects of art history, drawing inspiration both from Gothic cathedrals and 19th-century sculptures and the works by Bosch, Brueghel, and Warhol. Simultaneously, he unveils the beauty in everyday objects. Employing a baroque approach that oscillates between homage and irreverence, Delvoye appropriates and distorts motifs that captivate his imagination.

With the body of Gothic works that evolved since the early 2000s Delvoye walks a thin line between exploring artistic styles of the past and monumentality – by highlighting the medieval Gothic, interpreting it with contemporary themes and industrial techniques, he is aiming to create a new form of contemporary architecture. The works made of a laser cut corten steel plates reproduce neo-Gothic tracery. The ornaments on the works are not so much used as decorative quotations but as patterns of value and permanence in the modern era.

In the 1990s, Delvoye embarked on a daring experiment with tattoo art, specifically by tattooing the skin of pigs. Delvoye’s tattoos on these pigs incorporated Western iconography, including old school drawings, the Louis Vuitton monogram, and characters from Disney cartoons. By adorning pigskin with these iconic images, the artist raises thought-provoking questions about the commercial value of brands and challenges the conventional expectations of consumer society.

As of the 90s Delvoye radicalized the critical function of art, exploring the boundaries of commodity art, setting up his Cloaca-project. The machine that simulates the human digestive system, from the process of feeding with various mix of food to the production of the realistic wastes, Cloaca is based on real scientific and technical expertise. It is composed of successive receptacles containing acids, digestive juices, bacteria and enzymes, maintained at a temperature of 37.2°C. Marked by a logo that appears to be a mocking cross between the Mr.Clean and the Coca-Cola logo, Cloaca acts not as a metaphor, but as a concretization of the mechanisms of the modern economy. Its feeding is a demonstrative waste of product that reflects the commercialized mass market loaded with an added value. As an artwork that creates new artwork, it paradoxically gains a new added commercial value that unveils the possibility for endless market manipulation.

Wim Delvoye’s work has been on display at many venues through the years including Guggenheim Collection (Venice, Italy, 2009), Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain (MAMAC) (Nice, France, 2010), Musée Rodin (Paris, France, 2010), Palais des Beaux-Arts (BOZAR) (Brussels, Belgium, 2010-2011), Louvre (Paris, France, 2012), the Museum of Old and New Art (Hobart Tasmania, Australia, 2012), Pushkin State Museum of Fine Art (Moscow, Russia, 2014), Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (Tehran, Iran, 2016), MUDAM (Luxembourg, 2016).

Wim Delvoye

  • Wim Delvoye - Twisted Dumptruck CCW

    Twisted Dumptruck CCW
    2013
    Laser-cut stainless steel
    L 185 x 87 x H 95 cm

    Exhibitions
    2016 TMOCA, Tehran, Iran

  • Wim Delvoye - Twisted Dumptruck CW

    Twisted Dumptruck CW
    2013
    Laser-cut stainless steel
    L200 x 83 x H95 cm

    Exhibitions
    2014 Abu Dhabu Artfair
    2015 Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku, Azerbaijan
    2016 TMOCA, Tehran, Iran
    2018 Gary Tatintsian Gallery, Moscow

  • Wim Delvoye - Dumptruck

    Dumptruck
    2012
    Laser-cut stainless steel
    L 117 x 38 x 56 cm

    Exhibitions
    A large scale model 1/1 (similar design) was shown in Yokohama Museum of Art in 2014, and now the Flatbed trailer is part of the permanent collection at MONA, Hobart Tasmania

  • Wim Delvoye - Flatbed Trailer (scale model)

    Flatbed Trailer (scale model)
    2014
    Laser-cut stainless steel
    L 308 x 48 x 50 cm

    Exhibitions
    A large scale model 1/1 (similar design) was shown in Yokohama Museum of Art in 2014, and now the Flatbed trailer is part of the permanent collection at MONA, Hobart Tasmania

  • Wim Delvoye - Möbius Dual Corpus Direct Current

    Möbius Dual Corpus Direct Current
    2012
    Polished bronze
    100 x 100 x 130 cm

    Exhibitions
    Gallerie Perrotin, Paris 12.05.2012 - 16.06.2012
    Chiesa di San Cristoforo, Lucca, Italy 01.03.2013 - 01.09.2013
    Gary Tatintsian Gallery. Moscow, 25.06.2014 - 10.11.2014
    Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku, Azerbeidjan. 13 April - 18 October 2015
    The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran, Iran.
    7 March - 13 May 2016

  • Wim Delvoye - Ring Corpus Inside

    Ring Corpus Inside
    2012
    Polished bronze
    80 x 80 x130 cm

    Exhibited:
    Gallerie Perrotin, Paris 12.05.2012 - 16.06.2012
    Chiesa di San Cristoforo, Lucca, Italy 01.03.2013 - 01.09.2013

  • Wim Delvoye - Car Tyre

    Car Tyre
    2010
    Handcarved car tyre
    Ø 71 x 14 cm

    Exhibited:
    Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku, Apr '15 - Oct '15

  • Wim Delvoye - Car Tyre

    Car Tyre
    2010
    Handcarved car tyre
    Ø 71 x 14 cm

    Exhibited:
    Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku, Apr '15 - Oct '15