As Sweet As It Gets
Dallas Museum of Art lands U.S. premiere of major Michaël Borremans exhibition
On the heels of the announcement about new curator Gavin Delahunty, the Dallas Museum of Art has more contemporary art news: It will present the U.S. premiere of “Michaël Borremans: As sweet as it gets,” a major traveling exhibition of the work of the internationally acclaimed Belgian artist, in March 2015.
The comprehensive survey, organized by senior curator of special projects and research Jeffrey Grove, brings together roughly 100 psychologically charged and mysterious works — paintings, drawings and films — produced over the last 20 years, providing insight into the artist’s experimentation across media. The collection comprises both well-known and rarely exhibited works from public and private collections in Europe and the United States.
“MichaëlBorremans’ work speaks to both a sense of history and an understanding of the present,” said executive director Maxwell L. Anderson in a statement. “We are delighted ... to bring greater international attention to this artist’s innovative practice.”
“Like Michaël Borremans himself, the title of his mid-career survey is at once optimistic and open, though possessed of potentially darker intentions,” added Grove. “‘As sweet as it gets’ may imply either the embrace of a sunny present or a resigned acceptance that things are as bad as they will ever get.
“The tense ambiguity lingering in that expression provides an appropriate metaphor for Michaël’s work, characterized as it is by subtle symmetries of stunning beauty and disturbing abjection, humor and despair, strength and fragility. Yet, no matter how allusive or illogical the scenes he creates, they are imbued with qualities that describe the human condition, a subject with which we can each identify.”
“Michaël Borremans: As sweet as it gets,” co-organized with the Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels (BOZAR), will run March 15-July 5, 2015, at the DMA. Prior to its arrival in Dallas, the exhibition will open in February 2014 at BOZAR in Brussels, then travel to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in Jerusalem in September 2014.
