Jan Fabre: the great knight, contemporary art guardian

Jan Fabre: “The man who cries and laughs” (2005). Photo Beatrice Brandini

“Aby” by Beatrice Brandini

I attended the inauguration of the exhibition “Jan Fabre. Spiritual Guards “in the magnificent ramparts of Medici fortress of Forte Belvedere and once again I realized that art can heal manyn “wounds”.

Jan Fabre: “The man who measures the clouds” (1998), the sculpture on display at Forte Belvedere

The exhibition organized by the City of Florence, curated by Melanie Rossi and Joanna De Vos, along with the artistic director Sergio Risaliti, has three locations, the just mentioned Forte Belvedere (almost unique in the world panorama), Palazzo Vecchio and Piazza Signoria . It highlights the many creative languages of this great Flemish artist (Antwerp 1958), generously offering the visitor performances, sculptures, installations, drawings.

Jan Fabre: “Chapters Series I – VIII” (2010)

Jan Fabre has the ability to highlight the vulnerability of human beings, why his works are poetic but equally almost disturbing. They bear witness to the effort that we all do to overcome our limitations, which are physical, psychological, moral or aesthetic. A “work”, a “journey”, a “goal” … we often fail to complete (or understand) in the space of a lifetime. “I want to become what I live, becoming what I want modifying, freeing of feelings and emotions now notes, looking for a new body” says Fabre.

Jan Fabre: “The man carrying the cross” (2015)

Jan Fabre: “Chapters Series I – VIII” (2010)

Why the protagonists of his works are often insects, from which the artist draws an endless source of inspiration. And especially beetles, sacred beings, represented as a metamorphosis angels, guardians-keepers that, in the ancient religions and in the Italian and Flemish painting tradition, symbolize the passage between the earthly dimension and eternal life.

The artist Jan Fabre and the Mayor of Florence Dario Nardella

Dario Nardella the keys to the city to Jan Fabre. Alongside the exhibition’s curators Melanie Rossi and Joanna De Vos along with the artistic director Sergio Risaliti

Jan Fabre: “The man who cries and laughs” (2005)

Jan Fabre: “The man who writes on the water” (2006)

an Fabre uses allegories, myths, history, symbols and legends of the different civilizations, giving us a personal language, brilliant, almost fantastic. Recounting with humor and tragedy, awareness and unconscious, physicality and spirituality, the complexity of human nature.

Jan Fabre: “Sacred dung beetle with walking stick” (2012)

Jan Fabre: “Sacred dung beetle with laurel tree” (2012)

By Jan Fabre

Jan Fabre: “The man who gives fire” (2002)

Jan Fabre’s sculptures

I visited twice, a few days away, but mostly because I wanted to reflect better understand its message. I think this “exercise” should be done every time you witness something creative, obviously if we hit, and it seemed interesting. In fact, if the opening day enjoyed the shows especially from the aesthetic point of view, the breathtaking view of nature and the power of the Fort magically framed the glittering gilded surfaces of Fabre’s sculptures, the second time I came home with a kind of nostalgia, my thoughts remained there and still there is my concern. Fabre opens the world of imagination and let every viewer will face the questions and try to find his answers.

It is not easy, but if art moves these sensations has already made half a miracle.