Jan Vercruysse
5 September—17 November 2024
van Buuren Museum & Gardens, Brussels, Belgium
Xavier Hufkens is honoured to present an exhibition featuring works by the late Belgian artist Jan Vercruysse (1948–2018) at the van Buuren Museum & Gardens — a former private residence celebrated for its unique architecture, decorative arts and meticulously designed gardens. The exhibition features Vercruysse’s Labyrinth & Pleasure Gardens alongside his Tombeaux series, responding to both the similarities and discrepancies between the artist’s work and the unique characteristics of the museum’s setting.
A leading figure among a new generation of European sculptors from the 1980s onward, Vercruysse’s work is characterised by its deep engagement with the role of art and the artist. The theoretical discourse surrounding Vercruysse’s work is extensive and wide-ranging, often addressing themes such as identity, language, absence/presence, art history, memory, and time. In this context, the Labyrinth & Pleasure Gardens series may stand out as a notable exception.
Created between 1994 and 2001, Vercruysse’s twenty-one Labyrinth & Pleasure Gardens are a playful yet thoughtful reflection on the history of landscape architecture. Designed both as blueprints for public spaces and as standalone artworks, two of these gardens have been realized.¹ Drawing inspiration from medieval ‘Hortus Ludi’ and 16th-century Mannerist gardens, Vercruysse’s designs focus on the interplay of playfulness and artificiality, deliberately avoiding a central vantage point. His gardens incorporate a rich tapestry of references, including Versailles and Hadrian’s Villa, and highlight Vercruysse’s fascination with Mannerism and subtle allusions.²
The museum’s historic labyrinth and pleasure garden, designed by Jules Buyssens and Réné Péchère, offer a compelling parallel to Vercruysse’s exploration of these themes. Both feature uniquely shaped labyrinths with intricate pathways, hedges, and smaller elements like sculptures or benches and water features. Unlike traditional mazes, these gardens eschew a defined centre or endpoint, encouraging visitors to explore at a leisurely pace.
Meanwhile, the Tombeaux sculptures can be interpreted as sculptural still lifes. Composed of everyday objects such as cabinets, shelves and tables, the Tombeaux evoke interiors, furniture, theatre settings or architecture. Strategically placed within the museum’s domestic setting, they often lack identifiable content, thereby presenting a riddle to the viewer. The term Tombeaux, which translates to “tombs” or “graves,” also refers to a poem or musical composition commemorating a notable individual. Instead of serving as traditional monuments dedicated to specific subjects, these non- functional, furniture-like sculptures are self-referential and resist any type of straightforward interpretation.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a film of a rare interview with Jan Vercruysse by Jef Cornelis, conducted in June 1990. This valuable document provides insight into the artist’s complex and layered oeuvre, with Vercruysse reflecting on broader themes such as the nature of artistry, the relationship between the artist and their work, and the role of the spectator, rather than focusing on individual works.
¹Labyrinth & Pleasure Garden (n°10) in Clarholz, Germany (2006), and Labyrinth & Pleasure Garden (n°23) in Knokke, Belgium (2009).
²A. Pereira Rodriguez, De lusttuinen van Jan Vercruysse, rekto:verso (gent), no. 89, 2020, pp. 80–83.
