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Lot Essay
'When we look at an image, we instinctively aim to recognise something in it. My sculptures do not escape this entirely natural impulse on the part of the beholder. However, my works are built up in such a way that each impression one has of what one sculpture could refer to is dismantled as one walks around the world. Once you have finished walking around one of my sculptures, you cannot but conclude that it resembles nothing other than itself' (P. Buggenhout, quoted in interview with M. Amy, 'Seizing the chaos of life: a conversation with Peter Buggenhout', Peter Buggenhout: It's a strange, strange world, Sally, Tielt 2010, pp. iii and iv).
A mass of organic and raw material, Eskimo Blues II, 1999 by Belgian artistPeter Buggenhout presents a biological sculpture comprised mainly of a treated cow stomach. Elevated on a plinth and encased in glass, Eskimo Blues II, 1999 appears like a living, breathing organism, immobilised and frozen in time for the experience of the viewer. Buggenhout explores the nature of the object through the displacement of everyday, abject materials. As the artist himself has explained: 'these materials lose their form and meaning once they are removed from their original context The act of reading symbols, which is ingrained in all of us, makes us overlook the actual appearance of the object. By dismantling this tendency of ours to work with symbols, I bring the viewer back to the object itself' (bid., p. iv). Buggenhout seeks to create an immediate experience of his sculpture, one without preconceived understanding or expectation. This tension between recognition and mystery remains at the core of his artist practice. Buggenhout currently lives and works in Ghent and has had recent works exhibited this year at the MoMA P.S. 1 location in New York.
A mass of organic and raw material, Eskimo Blues II, 1999 by Belgian artistPeter Buggenhout presents a biological sculpture comprised mainly of a treated cow stomach. Elevated on a plinth and encased in glass, Eskimo Blues II, 1999 appears like a living, breathing organism, immobilised and frozen in time for the experience of the viewer. Buggenhout explores the nature of the object through the displacement of everyday, abject materials. As the artist himself has explained: 'these materials lose their form and meaning once they are removed from their original context The act of reading symbols, which is ingrained in all of us, makes us overlook the actual appearance of the object. By dismantling this tendency of ours to work with symbols, I bring the viewer back to the object itself' (bid., p. iv). Buggenhout seeks to create an immediate experience of his sculpture, one without preconceived understanding or expectation. This tension between recognition and mystery remains at the core of his artist practice. Buggenhout currently lives and works in Ghent and has had recent works exhibited this year at the MoMA P.S. 1 location in New York.