Jan Fabre

1980

Installation
Materials:

Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. S0372).

"In the beginning of Fabres 'After Art' performance (1980) the floor reveals the outlining of a man, made with shaving-cream. Fabre steps inside the outlining, removes his own clothes and dresses himself with clothes lying on the floor, precisely inside the outlining of the man. A white shirt, white trousers and white slippers. With those items Fabre becomes the (white) anonymous man on the floor: after redressing he wipes away the shaving-cream outlining. With this ritual start Fabre gives himself a whole new identity, bringing his own outlining, his own drawing, to life. An abstract image with which he gives himself, for the durance of the performance, an artificial double: the artist Jan Fabre. During the performance he keeps on referring to this double.

The performance is divided into separate acts, between those acts Fabre regards himself in a mirror; almost as to study his appearance. Afterwards he walks in a circle around the outlining, still vaguely visible after been wiped out. Again and again Fabre emphasizes the fact that the performance is not about himself but about a certain view of him, a separation of his person."