As part of 'OVR: 2020', the virtual edition of Art Basel that runs from 23 to 26 September, Zeno X will show work by Mark Manders from 2020. Concurrent with the online presentation, the gallery offers visitors the opportunity to see the work in the physical space at Leopold De Waelplaats 16 in Antwerp, the former location of the gallery.
In the late eighties and early nineties, Mark Manders created installations consisting of personal and domestic objects such as pencils, cups and pieces of string. These compositions were very fragile and poetic. Later on, Manders started using traditional materials such as clay, wood and bronze. However, the sculptures often seem more fragile than they actually are. Whereas in the past the statues seemed only just finished - as if the clay was still wet - recent sculptures seem rather arid and abandoned. Although Manders' works come across as timeless archetypes, there is one year that is always referred to, namely 1986. That year, his concept of a 'self-portrait as a building' came about. This concept functions as a metaphor for his oeuvre: a fictional building, divided into separate rooms whose exact shape and dimensions cannot be defined. Manders constantly strives for that special but unattainable moment at which all works are connected and enter into dialogue with each other.
Mark Manders recently had a solo exhibition at the Bonnefanten Musuem in Maastricht. On September 18, his duo exhibition with Michaël Borremans opened at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan.
Mark Manders solo booth Art Basel OVR:2020
Zeno X Gallery, Antwerpen-Zuid
Leopold De Waelplaats 16
2000 Antwerp, Belgium
23 through 26 September - 1 to 5 p.m.
For further information about Mark Manders visit his artistpage.
See the online viewing room of Zeno X Gallery