Hildegard
2013
Metal skeleton painted white, styrofoam head, dress, handbag, fake bird, wooden brown painted bench with metal structure
150 x 160 x 80 cm (59 1/16 x 63 x 31 1/2 in.)
A white metal skeleton of a woman partly concealed by a dress sits on a bench with a fake vulture on her shoulder. Her head comes from a mannequin and she’s wearing a blonde wig and glasses. Jos de Gruyter and Harald Thys originally designed Hildegard, a comical yet disturbing puppet, for their video Das Loch (2010).
De Gruyter and Thys are known for tragi-comic visual productions featuring puppets and toys. Hildegard plays the stereotypical role of the wife of Johannes, the prolific fictional painter in the video Das Loch. Their artificial voices and the dark environment give this film a macabre atmosphere. It explores the erosion of the mythology of the figure of the artist. Hildegard, transformed into an autonomous work of art, embodies this deeply critical humorous world.
Hildegard was shown for the first time by the Pinault Collection at the 2015 exhibition "Slip of the Tongue" at the Punta della Dogana.
De Gruyter and Thys are known for tragi-comic visual productions featuring puppets and toys. Hildegard plays the stereotypical role of the wife of Johannes, the prolific fictional painter in the video Das Loch. Their artificial voices and the dark environment give this film a macabre atmosphere. It explores the erosion of the mythology of the figure of the artist. Hildegard, transformed into an autonomous work of art, embodies this deeply critical humorous world.
Hildegard was shown for the first time by the Pinault Collection at the 2015 exhibition "Slip of the Tongue" at the Punta della Dogana.
Exhibitions
Courtesy the artist, Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin
Photocredit: Christine Clinckx / M HKA
Installation view, OPTIMUNDUS. Jos de Gruyter & Harald Thys, M HKA, Antwerp, February 08 2013 -May 19 2013.