Press
Interview Kunstletters 2023
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Interview Tertio 2023
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Interview Nottebohmkrant 2022
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Exhibition texts
Tanquam Agnus 2022
Tanquam Agnus (Like a Lamb) appears as an inscription on one of the versions[1] of the painting “Agnus Dei” by Francisco de Zurbarán (1598-1664).
Zurbarán’s Agnus Dei depicts the Lamb of God lying on a grey table against a dark background. The lamb is still alive and lies with its legs bound in an unmistakable sacrificial posture. The use of chiaroscuro highlights the lamb and makes it stand out against the dark background. The viewer is immediately drawn to the lamb, which seems to meekly accept its fatal fate.
History and animals are two major themes in my work. History stimulates our imagination. We view it with our current social context as a frame of reference. At the same time, our view is shaped by images created by previous generations.
Although history and art history play a major role in my work, this is the first time I have referred directly to a historical painting. Even as a child, Agnus Dei was one of my favourite paintings.
My work Tanquam Agnus consists of a steel plate suspended with steel wire. Parts of a sheep’s skull are clamped to the front and back of the steel plate with glass and steel wool. The parts of the skull come from the silt of the Scheldt and are probably several hundred years old. They may date from the 17th century, the period in which Zurbarán painted his Agnus Dei.
[1] Zurbarán produced at least seven versions of the work, each with slight differences. The best-known version is the one in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. Historians agree that it dates from the fourth decade of the 17th century, with most specifying 1635-1640, when the painter was at the height of his career.
June 2022, Jeffe De Brabandere
Translated by Jeffe De Brabandere
Relatief / Relative 2021/2022
‘Relatief / Relative’
What do we know about the past? All we have are relics. We project onto them a story that fits our time, about how things might have been back then. Anyone who has a different view of those relics rewrites history. When are those remnants still something, and when are they nothing? If they are still something, they have value. Something that is valuable is beautiful, and vice versa. Jeffe De Brabandere explores boundaries in his work. What can we know and what can we not know, and where is the stage between something and nothing?
De Brabandere is a collector. He mainly assembles found objects, such as skulls, teeth and bones of animals, yellowed book pages, rope, ribbons and felt. Here and there, he moulds objects together with wax. He chooses simple and pure materials that are used and/or old. His work consists of bringing materials together, tying them and wrapping them. These actions show us what we do. We only know fragments of an event, but we connect them into a story and imagine what happened. In this way, we all project our view onto the work that De Brabandere creates.
Our origins and history bring with them many uncertainties. De Brabandere uses pages from an old missal dating from 1790, which in turn refers to the Bible, which in our society represents the creation of the world. His choice of animal remains also refers to something we cannot grasp. We do not know how an animal sees, thinks or feels and can only interpret what it is. When is something truth or interpretation? We see repetitions in De Brabandere’s actions and materials. If we repeat our story often enough, we become more and more convinced of its authenticity.
His work shows us relics of animals and time. Everything has a skeleton, which is what remains of something. Most of the objects De Brabandere uses have seen better days. He chooses light and earthy tones and retains the colour of the objects. They are faded, just as colour fades from things that decay. This reinforces the feeling of transience. How fragile can something become? When is something still an object and when is it no longer? Viewing his work confronts us with the finiteness of everything, no matter how expensive or valuable we consider it to be. We like to identify with things. We often consider things that are almost decayed to be nothing more than worthless. De Brabanderes’ work makes us look differently at material that has reached its final stage. When are his objects worn out, worthless and insignificant? He places them on a piece of cloth, a cushion, in a bed or behind glass. Through the attention and care with which he treats and cherishes them, he gives everything a final tribute and a resting place. There is beauty in everything, even if we don’t see it right away. The new combinations feed new stories and interpretations and give worn-out materials lasting value and meaning.
November 2021, Indra Devriendt
Translated by Jeffe De Brabandere
Masters Thesis
The subject of my thesis is the iconography of the animal in seventeenth-century and contemporary art. I have analysed seven works from both the seventeenth-century and the contemporary period. My selection is largely intuitive and based on aesthetic appeal. For the seventeenth century I only discussed oil paintings (of which mammals or birds were the main theme) and I distinguished between the Northern and the Southern Netherlands. For the contemporary era, I chose artworks from living artists working with various media. I analysed the style features and discovered formal similarities, thematic parallels and interferences between contemporary and seventeenth-century works. The animal’s representation is influenced by prevailing mental frameworks, the social and political context and by the human self-image. These are described and discussed in detail in the analyses
Jeffe De Brabandere, 2020
Download full thesis HERE (dutch only).
Jeffe De Brabandere 