A pair of kidneys, a money pouch, a caltrop, and a sphere-shaped figure are calmly hanging on a mobile. But this calmness is deceiving.
In One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache (2021), every element is hanging in a precarious balance, entirely dependent on the weight of the other elements.
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Three of those elements reference The Misanthrope (1568) by Pieter Breugel the Elder. Turning its back on the world, Breugel’s misanthrope has his money pouch stolen by the sphere-like figure and is about to walk in a series of caltrops. Daan Gielis has adapted these elements and positioned them on the outer edges of a mobile, forever in suspended animation. This prevents the sphere-like figure from snatching the money pouch, but rather keeps them in balance. And as long as this standstill is maintained, the misanthrope won’t step into the caltrops.
It is a precarious balance, to be sure. This is emphasized by the fourth element in the mobile, which adds a more personal touch: a pair of human kidneys. Kidneys keep our blood clean; they detoxify our system. In One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache they tell the artist’s personal story of looming kidney failure, but they also have a bigger story to tell: the world can be a toxic place and we often long to turn our back on it, but what we really need is a pair of good working kidneys, both real and metaphorical, that can detoxify our system.