SCULPTURE SERIES
The Red Fruit
The Abundance
&
The Egg
Developed for the group show ‘De Bredase Tuinen Der Lusten’, July - August 2024
An edit of my sculptures in“The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymus Bosch, 1490-1510The exhibition took place in three public gardens of Breda (NL):
Begijnhof Breda (the historical Breda beduinage),
Nieuwe Veste (the library and cultural center),
and Stedelijk Museum Breda (the city museum).
All pieces in the exhibition were inspired by the infamous triptych ”The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymus Bosch, 1490-1510, which was simultaneously on view in Stedelijk Museum Breda.
Each of my sculptures represents one of the three panels.
The Red Fruit
2024150 x 64 x 64 cm
In the garden of Begijnhof Breda
Steel, recycled glass bulbs, waterproofed plaster, natural latex, acrylic paint, textile, ink, wire
The Abundance
2024190 x 190 x 180 cm
In the garden of Nieuwe Veste
Painted steel, ceramics, various plants, bird seeds, recycled plastic, nature latex, cress seeds
The Egg
202455 x 130 x 130 cm
In the garden of Stedelijk Museum Breda
Steel, recycled plastic, handwoven structure from acrylic yarn, natural latex, solar-powered fountains, acrylic paint, nacre, ceramics, aquatic plants
Represents the left panel.
In this panel we find Adam, Eve, and God in the Garden of Eden. The scene is set in the peaceful time before ‘The fall of Man’, but we still see the tree carrying the red fruit that will later tempt Eve, and it is this tree that the sculpture draws its main inspiration from. Of course, The Red Fruit also hints towards the central panel, taking shape as one of the big, comically oversized berries that humans inescapably indulge in.
Represents the central panel.
In the center of the triptych, a world consumed by earthly desires and sinful pleasures is depicted. This world is filled with a chaos of naked human figures, animals, oversized berries, and fantastical buildings. The Abundance replicates the whimsical shapes of the architecture in its central spear, which is adorned with seeds at the top to welcome birds and rats to feast. The rest of the sculpture includes an abundance of plants, some of which bear fruits, that over the course of the exhibition grew into a wildly unkept garden of its own.
In the center of the triptych, a world consumed by earthly desires and sinful pleasures is depicted. This world is filled with a chaos of naked human figures, animals, oversized berries, and fantastical buildings. The Abundance replicates the whimsical shapes of the architecture in its central spear, which is adorned with seeds at the top to welcome birds and rats to feast. The rest of the sculpture includes an abundance of plants, some of which bear fruits, that over the course of the exhibition grew into a wildly unkept garden of its own.
Represents the right panel.
The indulgence in earthly delights has led us to hell. In this dark panel, the lake has frozen over, humans are suffering, and the absurdity from the central panel has taken a more macabre turn. In the middle of this, we find a big white figure with a human face, looking out on us. He is called “the tree man”, and is allegedly a self-portrait of Bosch himself. However, I misremembered this and always thought of it as “the egg man”, since his body to me looks more like a cracked egg than a tree. This led to the sculpture The Egg which is a hybrid of the tree (egg) man and the black, frozen lake. Instead of being frozen, the egg is a solar-powered fountain, implying that hell is yet to have frozen over.
De Bredase Tuinen Der Lusten was organised by KOP and also included works by Renée Bus, Freek van Zoest, Matunda Groenendijk, and Britte Koolen.
Photos by Linsey Kuijpers.