Jan De Cock
Jan De Cock is, after Luc Tuymans, the second Belgian artist to have had an exhibition at Tate Modern in London, and the first living Belgian artist to have had a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His name has been featured in the world's greatest museums, and in his own unique way. As a visual artist, Jan De Cock creates installations in which creation itself is part of the exhibition. Many of his works are performances and feature his own photography. He uses 20th-century abstract art techniques to explore the effects of modern design and mass production on the world of art. That is why, it is said, his works encourage us in different ways to think and look at his subjects rather than having a particular meaning spark. Jan De Cock is considered a modernist artist and his work explores the ways in which an artist can relate to the modernist approach. Although there have been several opportunities to view Jan de Cock's sculptures and photographs in recent years, his location art at Manifesta 5 in Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain, marked his first international breakthrough. For this installation, de Cock took over an abandoned ship storage facility and erected a large structure that, typical of his work, exploited the fertile ground between art and architecture. Part sculpture, part building, de Cock's oversized work filled the interior of the warehouse and extended onto the roof, literally blurring the boundaries between inside and outside.
