Narcisse Tordoir | Fake Barok
3.May.26
The monumental work 'Fake Barok' by Belgian artist Narcisse Tordoir confronts the relationship between art, politics, and reality, and exemplifies Tordoir’s groundbreaking approach to painting. At S.M.A.K., the installation is presented in a new display, alongside primarily recent works by the artist.
The title of the work refers to the Baroque, the 17th-century art movement in which Narcisse Tordoir has long been immersed. For the artist, the Baroque represents a stylistic period that no longer masked the political and social crises of its time – such as the Reformation and religious wars – but laid them bare in all their inescapable and excessive truth. Tordoir’s work from 2016 confronts the horrors of today’s refugee, war, and climate crises. He combines existing (press) photographs with his own –often staged – images, which are further worked with or without pastel chalk. The result is an overwhelming, composite ‘tableau vivant’ of the current state of our world.
In 2024, Tordoir donated the work to the museum, which prompted this presentation.
Narcisse Tordoir (b. 1954, Mechelen, Belgium) works across a range of media, from drawing, printmaking and painting, to photography and installation. Through this seemingly effortless versatility, he engages with historical references to painting while simultaneously positioning himself beyond the traditional boundaries of the medium. Tordoir’s thoughtful, layered image montages place a strong emphasis on perception, exploring the tensions between romanticism and reality, history and current events.
