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Manuela Klerkx
La Condition Humaine in five art works
French novelist André Malraux (1901-1976) won the prestigious Prix Goncourt literary prize in 1933 for his famous novel La Condition Humaine, a novel about human shortcomings, human loneliness and awareness thereof. For this collection, I selected a number of artists who, like Malraux, explore humanity in different ways. For one artist, this takes place on a spiritual level, while another explores this theme in a satirical or playful way. The one seeks the answer in the relationship to the public, while the other does not. All of these different interpretations are what make this subject so interesting. Malraux, who adhered to Nietzsche's philosophy of life, is considered by some to be a forerunner of existentialism, a 20th century philosophical movement that viewed individual freedom as the beginning and end of humankind and its otherwise meaningless existence. In this collection, we see how five different artists relate to themes such as the individual versus the collective, thinking versus acting, life versus death and the rational versus the spiritual. What they have in common is a search for the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of being human in relation to ourselves, others and in the case of Jennifer Tee, the spiritual and cosmic.
2 Media items ᛫ 33 Available artworks
8 Shows ᛫ 0 Highlights ᛫ 2 Recommendations
A great introduction to the rich oeuvre of Jennifer Tee (b. 1973) is The Soul in Limbo, a frequent theme in Tee’s work. Her ‘souled world’ is a metaphor for an indefinable place on the interface between the possible and impossible, where the conceptual and psychological,
spiritual and untouchable, sensuous and symbolic converge. Elements from Chinese magic, celestial bodies, tulips, boats and death masks refer to different cultures and histories and mark the transition between life and death. Tee's work consists of sculptures – including ceramics – collages, installations and performances. In her work, the earthly and the cosmic are connected, as if she is attempting to free people from their 'human condition' by looking beyond our earthly, Western existence.
Represented by Galerie Fons Welters
spiritual and untouchable, sensuous and symbolic converge. Elements from Chinese magic, celestial bodies, tulips, boats and death masks refer to different cultures and histories and mark the transition between life and death. Tee's work consists of sculptures – including ceramics – collages, installations and performances. In her work, the earthly and the cosmic are connected, as if she is attempting to free people from their 'human condition' by looking beyond our earthly, Western existence.
Represented by Galerie Fons Welters
2 Media items ᛫ 4 Available artworks
0 Shows ᛫ 0 Highlights ᛫ 0 Recommendations
Born in Guadeloupe and based in Berlin, artist Jimmy Robert (b. 1975), like Tee, explores processes and transitions. In Robert's case, between seeing and being seen, language and body, body and space. He is inspired by his spiritual predecessors, including Marcel Duchamp, Margueritte Duras (with whom he says he has an 'obsessive' relationship) and Josephine Baker, representatives of conceptual contemporary art and feminist art and way of life, respectively. According to Robert, these artists paved the way for more freedom within performance art and dance by breaking taboos around the human body, sexuality and touch. This in turn led to more cross-pollination between different disciplines. By using the work of important thinkers, writers, filmmakers and artists in his performances – always in close collaboration with others – Robert shows how layered the 'human condition' really is; how much knowledge you need about concepts like queer, colonialism, architecture, desire, etc. to understand something about humankind. Just as it is important for him to find nourishment in literature, film, music and dance in order to penetrate the deeper layers of our existence, it is important for viewers to see, experience and interpret Robert's performances and choreographies from their own point of view. After all, only then does a person gain insight into his or her own existence.
Represented by Galerie Stigter Van Doesburg
Represented by Galerie Stigter Van Doesburg
3 Media items ᛫ 41 Available artworks
11 Shows ᛫ 1 Highlights ᛫ 1 Recommendations
Melanie Bonajo (b. 1978) is an artist, filmmaker, sexological bodyworker, somatic sex coach, cuddly workshop supervisor and activist. Through videos, performances, photos and installations – featuring naked bodies dripping with olive oil, nipples being touched, a man riding a tree and a woman peeing with her legs spread apart – Bonajo examines the condition humaine as part of our capitalist society. You might define their (Bonajo identifies as non-binary) work as an attempt to create new forms of coexistence and cooperation in an anti-capitalist manner in which themes such as sexuality, intimacy and feelings take on different meanings. According to Bonajo, the traditional division between male and female and nature and technology may be great for the economy, but lead to a sense of alienation and loneliness. Against the background of their words, we see human deficiency as an inability to be intimate, to engage in genuine contact in an increasingly technologically developed world. Whereas science and politics are concerned with economic and technological progress, Bonajo focuses on alternative, gentle ways to feel at home in this world with 'body, heart and soul'.
Represented by AKINCI
Represented by AKINCI
3 Media items ᛫ 16 Available artworks
7 Shows ᛫ 0 Highlights ᛫ 3 Recommendations
Erik van Lieshout can only examine the condition humaine from a perspective of considerable personal involvement. His often provocative paintings, collages, drawings, installations and video films explore such major themes as love, nationalism, racism and the social significance of art. He prefers to ask himself and others confrontational questions that spare neither himself or others. To achieve this, he examines a community, idea or context from the inside: by talking to people and reflecting. He does this in a satirical and ironic way, so that the message hits home even more. He presents the 'unbearable lightness of being' with a flair that not only makes you think, but also reduces the distance between artist and audience. By featuring in almost all his films – filmed up close – it is as if you are standing next to him while he is chattering about death, abuse or corruption, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. In fact, it is. We aren’t accustomed talking about it like Van Lieshout: as if in all its tragedy, the condition humaine is one big joke – and a sick joke at it.
Represented by Annet Gelink Gallery
Represented by Annet Gelink Gallery
2 Media items ᛫ 3 Available artworks
1 Shows ᛫ 5 Highlights ᛫ 0 Recommendations
In an episode of Hollandse Meesters, we see how one of the two sisters, who together form the artist duo L.A. Raeven (b. 1971), draws her pregnant sister. Their work is about the fact that they are not unique individuals, but twins and chose for a long time to literally live together as symbiotic twins and make this their job. Such a choice has major consequences for themes such as independence, freedom and individuality. By making themselves the subject of their art and cohabitating, working together, eating the same meals and making decisions together, for years they explored the boundaries of human symbiosis with themselves as the subject. That is, until Liesbeth had enough of the arrangement and Angelique had no choice but to suffer the consequences. The fact that the sisters are twins is the perfect metaphor for loneliness and the lack of freedom: a closed communicative circuit that you cannot leave or enter. Their website states: “It's all about why we look the way we look. What is determined by our genes and what by our environment? And how can we change that? The leitmotif of our work is that we take ourselves as the starting point. […] We constantly ask ourselves 'How do I become a unique individual?'.” This is exactly what their work is about. And in relation to the condition humaine, that question becomes harder to answer because what is your destiny and how do you make choices and decisions when your identity is so closely linked to that of the other? In other words, to what extent do you lead your own life?
Represented by Ellen de Bruijne Projects
Represented by Ellen de Bruijne Projects