The Fondation Linda & Guy Pieters, St. Tropez presents “Temptation,” an exhibition by the interdisciplinary Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen on view through August 28. Early this year, Vanmechelen installed his works among those of Caravaggio, Michelangelo, and da Vinci for a show at the Uffizi Gallery, Florence titled “Seduzione.” “Temptation” continues this theme of direct inspiration from past yet still-living cultures, while emphasizing the ever-evolving, ever-new process of creation which this inspiration entails. The show features Azulejo tiles inspired by those which the artist encountered in Portugal and depicting mythical scenes, and marble statues incorporating the features of Medusa and Greek goddesses interchanged with the features of taxidermied animals (which died natural deaths). Toeing the line between chaos and order, familiarity and unpredictability, and life and death, these works generatively connect past forms with future ideals.
Speaking on the socially revolutionary uses of his ongoing dialogue with the masters of art history, Vanmechelen has said: “Art has forever been a crucial element in every human society. Art entices people to social thinking. It invites them in a specific way to ponder things yet invisible, leading to a new revolution.”
