For the past twenty years the work of Kris Martin has been exhibited worldwide. S.M.A.K. Ghent now is presenting the Belgian public a first retrospective of his intriguing oeuvre. Martin’s sculptures revolve on questions about dead, transience and identity, literature and mythology being his main source of inspiration.
‘My Brain is my studio. I am a conceptual artist and therefore in no need of a real studio.’
The artwork Mandi VIII from 2006 is a plaster cast of the well-known Hellenistic Laocoön Group, evocating the mythological struggle of the Trojan priest Laocoön and his sons under a ferocious attack by sea serpents. But in Martin’s replica the snakes are absent. So, what invisible foe are these terrified human beings fighting? Depression? Covid-19? Mortality? An art-historical omission?
- Authors: Kris Martin, Philippe Van Cauteren, Jens Hoffmann, Tim Vanheers
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Kris Martin (1972, Kortrijk, Belgium) is a conceptual artist. He lives and works in Ghent, Belgium. His artworks have been exhibited at, amongst other, the Kunstmuseum Bonn (Germany), Tate Modern London (UK), Centre Pompidou Paris (France), Moma P.S.1 New York (U.S.A) amongst others. He is represented by König Galerie in Berlin (Germany) and Sean Kelly Gallery in New York (USA).
