Jan De Cock

Galerie Fons Welters opens the new year with a solo exhibition by young Belgian artist Jan De Cock (1976, Brussel).

It is De Cock's third solo effort in the gallery. This year, the artist realised large scale installations as part of Docu/Fiktion in Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, and Manifesta 5, among others. Furthermore, he built semi-permanent installations for the Henry Van de Velde University Library in Ghent, and the Palace for Fine Arts (Bozar) in Brussels. In 2005 De Cock will have solo exhibitions in Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt and Tate Modern, London. De Cock's large-scale contribution to Manifesta 5, earlier this year in San Sebastian/Donostía, is called Denkmal 2, Astillero, Ascorreta 2, Pasajes San Pedro, San Sebastian. The title is typical for his artistic project: his installations, constructed from various types of particle board, function as monuments for the site where they are erected. For the San Sebastian installation, the artist went on a search for possible locations outside of the exhibition venues, and finally settled for a deserted shipyard, just outside the old harbour. De Cock's installation, that changed the existing architecture rigorously, subtly interacted with the building's formal characteristics, as well as its direct surroundings. His signature modular, modernist visual language directed the visitor's gaze through the shipyard's three storeys, and visually incorporated the architecture on the other side of the bay by allowing the spectator a spectacular view from the building's roof. In his exhibition in the gallery, De Cock will present a series of lightbox-tryptichs that he produced from photographs taken from his Manifesta-installation. Compared to earlier lightbox-works, scale is substantially increased, and thus the spectator is more actively urged to position him/herself in relation to the depicted constructions. Like the installations themselves, the photographs are characterised by the compelling manner in which De Cock directs the framing of reality.

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Jan De Cock