Books & Jewels

For this post I’ve chosen another piece of work from an exhibition that I visited, but one of a totally different scale. This work is one of the seven installations of the exhibit Books&Jewels! The work is created by students, the Bachelor students of Sint Lucas in Antwerp.

The object of the students’ assignment was to show how books support a work of art. Of course, books can support art as a source of inspiration, stimulation for the mind, and base for research.
In this case, support was taken quite literally by Octave Vandeweghe who created the work above! It has a big pile of books as a support! The artwork on top consists of a piece of bronze piping used for water supply, and a porcelain spout of a teapot. The artist has a love for collecting things, as some of the books show. Is this how the piece came to life? Out of someone’s personal collection?

Both the books and the work have made my mind wonder. I love the way the object has a special stand made for it, showing how much it is cared for, as the top book “objets affectifs” gives away. Fun how there is a book called “trans plant”, as if the plumming is transplanted onto the spout, making it a ‘surreal thing’, the title of another book. They fit together perfectly to form what looks like a pipe, hence the big fat Magritte-book. “Filosofie van het kijken” (Philosophy of looking) is what I am doing right now! Especially since I’m thinking the ‘pipe’ can actually be used to drink water from. It has that piece of plumming, and spout of a teapot, both closely connected to water. Another book catches my eye, not for its’ title (Conversion to modernism) but by the authors’ name, Naumann. I know Francis M. Naumann is not the same as the, also modernist, artist Bruce Nauman, but he is the one who made the stunning work ‘Self portrait as a fountain’. It all comes down to water, let’s hope these books don’t get wet wet wet!

The exhibition Books&Jewels is running until the 2nd of April at Silke&the gallery in Antwerp, Belgium.

Four of the Masters students of Sint Lucas have started a blog, it is called the power of jewellery.