Cindy Wright. Eye to eye
Museum Hof van Busleyden - 01.12. 2020 to 17.01.21
In the underground exhibition space, Cindy Wright presented 'Eye To Eye', a series of ten large charcoal drawings, each depicting a skull. An eleventh even larger drawing completes the series as a synthesis of the ten individual skulls. Themes such as decay, finiteness and vulnerability are recurring elements in the artist's work. Here, she aligns with the 17th-century European painting tradition which encompasses these themes in the still life.
Cindy Wright's still life paintings also have an impact beyond their purely formal and aesthetic qualities. They always touch on essential social and ecological concerns. Through her work, she raises ethical questions about our human transience and fragility, our approach to death and the future of our society and the planet on which we live.
This new series by Cindy Wright also provided Museum Hof van Busleyden with an opportunity to delve deeper into the symbolism of the skull. Along with the artist, the curators reflect on three artworks from the museum's collection: the portrait of Saint Jerome, a depiction of Margaret of Austria in mourning and the delicate Enclosed Gardens. They invite visitors to look at these early 16th-century masterpieces from another perspective and break the taboo around mortality.
Publication of Eye to eye
For this exhibition, an artist publication and edition were published by Stockmans Art Books.