Wim Delvoye Wervik, Belgium, b. 1965
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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.
b. 1965, Wervik, Belgium
Lives and works Ghent (Belgium) and Brighton (UK).DOWNLOAD CV >
Delvoye 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).
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Works
Wim Delvoye Wervik, Belgium, b. 1965
Flatbed Trailer, 2014Laser-cut stainless steel308 × 48 × 50 cmFurther images
“My fascination with the gothic is that it isn’t dark at all. For me it shows something like European springtime.” – Wim Delvoye This gothic series of works by Wim...“My fascination with the gothic is that it isn’t dark at all. For me it shows something like European springtime.” – Wim Delvoye
This gothic series of works by Wim Delvoye blends the shapes of industrial machinery with medieval architecture. His work is rooted in love of tradition, craftsmanship, and engineering combined with an openness to the world.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: Labour of Love. Het Noordbrabants Museum – 's-hertogenbosch, Netherlands. Oct 29,2022–Jan 29,2023Publications
Wim Delvoye. Tehran Museum, Iran, 2016. p. 122–123
Wim Delvoye: Labour of Love. Het Noordbrabants Museum – 's-hertogenbosch, Netherlands. pp. 20–21
Exhibitions-
Wim Delvoye
Personal Exhibition 9 Nov 2018 - 9 Feb 2019Blurring the boundary between the art of the past and the digital realm of current art practice, he makes aerodynamic, mathematically perfect, intricate sculptures that take both art and design...Read more > -
Mutated Reality
Group Exhibition 27 Nov 2015 - 2 Mar 2016 -
Wim Delvoye
Personal Exhibition 26 Jun - 1 Nov 2014
PublicationsNewsVideo-
The Provocative Gothic Work of Wim Delvoye
© Blouin Artinfo -
Entretien avec Wim Delvoye | DHC/ART
© Fondation PHI pour l’art contemporain -
Interview with Belgian artist Wim Delvoye (conference teaser)
© Melissa Pawelski -
Wim Delvoye: This Shit is Art
© Louisiana Channel -
Wim Delvoye
© Out of Sync - Art in Focus