Proposition for Jeff Wall exhibition to be held in ... - VisitBrussels

The Crooked PathExtrait du catalogue“It‟s a little path made by its users, without a plan, in order to do something that the usualadministration could not or did not do – so there‟s a slight trace of disobedience or independence– people may do things that we can‟t predict.”Jeff WallThe sheer quality of Jeff Wall‘s work – or rather the qualities, so rich is it with new perspectivesand so influential has it been on the art of the last forty years – is the stimulus behind thisexhibition. Wall‘s work is rich in writings too, acute observations about his own work and that ofhis forerunners and contemporaries. It is rich too in interpretations, expressed in his images; hiswork opens up new perspectives, constantly pushing the boundaries of photographicconventions. The hallmark of Jeff Wall‘s large-format photographs is his use of light boxes whichcreates a cinematographic effect. Mises en scène of reality, a theatre of everyday life re-enactedby ordinary actors, often with a nod to pictorial models inspired directly by painting traditions, hiswork has transformed our traditional concept of photography, breaking new ground and creating aspace for condensation where photography, as envisaged by the artist, can claim for itself therole of a painting of modern life. Jeff Wall is often described as a flâneur – an idle stroller –observing scenes of daily life, singling out characters, attitudes, places and landscapes –elements or ―notes‖ which, after percolating through his mind, after he has ―dreamed about‖ them,as he describes it, will be used to construct his images. This experience of reality, the timeneeded to allow the imagination to roam, together with his profound knowledge of pictorialtradition and his mastery of composition, are what form the richness of his work. Haunted byghosts of a sometimes brusque reality, by remembrances of painting, objects, places, and literaryfigures, his works are imbued with a strange beauty, creating this space that lends itself to ashared imaginative journey to remain as if suspended.This exhibition unfolds non-chronologically, foregrounding subjects that are central to the artist‘sexplorations. Each stage is unique, focusing on a selection of Jeff Wall works and pieces by otherartists. There are ten stations, like chapters in a visual narrative, placing us before significantpieces whose purpose is not to illustrate a subject but rather to express, through the images ondisplay, a special experience – the Jeff Wall experience.The path begins with reflections relating to Wall‘s initial exploration of the physical and mentalspace of the studio, leading to experiments that resulted in seminal pieces such as TheDestroyed Room or Picture for Woman, presented in relation to the works of other artistsincluding Marcel Duchamp, Bruce Nauman, Chris Burden, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and otherscloser to him like Ian Wallace and Rodney Graham. It ends with more recent photographs forwhich Wall no longer uses the transparent support of cibachrome mounted on a light box. JeffWall‘s prime concern was to choose pieces for their particular importance to him and the degreeto which they resonate with his own work, rather than to present a roll-call of major artists andphotographers.Given the many major retrospectives and monographic exhibitions that have been devoted to JeffWall in recent years, we felt that this approach to understanding a piece, through a constantdialogue with Jeff Wall, with space for works of his own choice and for the relationships he haswith the works of other artists, was the most appropriate. It also reflects a wish to place theemphasis on his special rapport with photography, critical to begin with and then gradually morepeaceful, and in particular to highlight his role as a link, reinventing his medium to revive abroader pictorial tradition, permitting a continuity of the Tableau through images that are bothcomplex and unique.5