Jan De Cock

Much of his work draws on visual and formal comparisons between early-20th century abstract art movements and contemporary design and mass production.

From his exhibition ‘Eine Romantische Ausstellung onward the focus of his works shifts towards disruptive interventions in order to destabilise art market mechanisms.

The Bruges Art Institute is home to The Flemish Masters, Grandiose Shipyards and Jan De Cock Advisory.

In December 2016 Abstract Capitalism II opened at The Brussels Art_ Institute, a 'memorial exhibition' in the form of an old school salon, revealing how artists' houses and studios have become the object of public fascination and - at the same time - misunderstanding about art, creator and the aesthetic.

[3] In this exhibition Jan De Cock unfolds a complex, interlocking system of fragments, changing the white rooms of the Kunsthalle and the glass pavilion of the Stadtmuseum into a landscape of splintered units that seemingly has no point of departure, nor one of arrival.

A series of sculptures entitled Romantische Skulpturen consists of grand steel profile frames measuring almost 3m x 3m, upon which precisely crafted layers of coated wood and other materials have been attached.

Jan De Cock probed the very sources of film and played with movement, repetition, and reproduction, which are the main concepts for reading the exhibition.

The photographic material was created in response to the specific location in which it will be screened, and shows different objects from the collection of the MoMA, in combination with images from art, architecture or film history.

[6] Daniel Buren was then invited to elaborate in-situ on the museum reference frame created by De Cock, and hence to complete the work.

Buren's intervention consisted of putting his well-known motive of green vertical ( 8.7 cm ) wide stripes onto De Cock's sculptures and using mirrors to interact with the piece.

[citation needed] With Denkmal 53, Jan De Cock built his own museum by creating simple constructions that refer to the formal language of the building of Tate Modern, especially the window distribution and structure of the Central Hall.

The lines, areas, and solid colours of the sculptures harmonize on an abstract level with the furnishings, the architecture, and the paintings, resulting in a Gesamtkunstwerk.