Michaël Borremans: The Acrobat
Text by Katya Tylevich
A breathtaking selection of Michaël Borremans’s lustrous paintings, this catalogue showcases his technical mastery and creative use of mise-en-scène.
Recalling classical painting, both through technical mastery and choice in subject matter, Borremans’s depictions of the surprising and the bizarre invites a second look. Uncanny scenes of figures looking at blurred acrobatic displays, hooded subjects rendered in Rembrandt-esque lighting, or solemn portraits demonstrate Borremans’s unique vision. In this recent body of work, Borremans continues to draw the viewer in closer with his intimately scaled paintings of mysterious figures in peculiar arenas.
Accessible yet full of rich detail, this pocket-size book features fifteen masterful works offering a mystifying narrative. An illuminating text by Katya Tylevich mines the scenes Borremans sets, conjuring the multidimensionality of the works’ emotional power and their unique place in the lineage of art history.
Publisher: David Zwirner Books
Artists: Michaël Borremans
Contributors: Katya Tylevich
Designer: Kim Beirnaert
Printer: die Keure, Bruges
Publication Date: 2022
Binding: Softcover
Dimensions: 4.5 × 7 in | 11.4 × 17.8 cm
Pages: 64
Reproductions: 18 illustrations
ISBN: 9781644230831
Retail: $20 | $25 CAN | £15
Status: Available
Michaël Borremans
Michaël Borremans was born in 1963 in Geraardsbergen, Belgium. In 1996, he received his M.F.A. from Hogeschool voor Wetenschap en Kunst, Campus St. Lucas, in Ghent. David Zwirner has represented the artist’s works since 2001. Previous solo exhibitions at the gallery include Black Mould (London, 2015) The Devil’s Dress (New York, 2011), Taking Turns (New York, 2009), Horse Hunting (New York, 2006), and Trickland (New York, 2003). Borremans’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at a number of prominent institutions. Most recently, Michaël Borremans: Fixture, was presented at the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga in 2015–2016. A major museum survey, Michaël Borremans: As sweet as it gets, which included one hundred works from the past two decades, was on view at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels in 2014. The exhibition traveled later in the year to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, followed by the Dallas Museum of Art in 2015. Michaël Borremans: The Advantage, the artist’s first museum solo show in Japan, was also on view in 2014 at the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo.
Katya Tylevich
Katya Tylevich is an arts and fiction writer. She is the author of Gus Van Sant: The Art of Making Movies (2021), Success Oracles: Career and Business Tips from the Good, the Bad, and the Visionary (2020), and Art Oracles: Creative & Life Inspiration from Great Artists (2017). She has been a contributing editor and writer for publications such as Elephant, Mark, Frame, Domus, and Pin-Up.