Narcisse Tordoir – MQ - M HKA Ensembles

Exhibition: Narcisse Tordoir – MQ

M HKA, Antwerp

15 September 2019 - 05 January 2020

This archival presentation comprises of a selection of scale models by Narcisse Tordoir (Mechelen, 1954). These scale models – made between 1989 and 1996 – are tangible witnesses of a specific way of working and show the development of forms, image-motifs, and thoughts had by the artist. The models are more than mere three-dimensional sketches or technical exercises, they testify to the artist’s continued search for new conceptions of painting.

Narcisse Tordoir – MQ also offers an insight into the reality of art making: not every work can be made immediately, yet it wants to exist. These “works to scale” allowed Tordoir to safeguard the pleasure of the creative process against the limitations and frustrations of the final production of an artwork. Nowadays, the artist also deploys digital tools to give shape to his ideas. These scale models however, are the result of a process rooted in a visual culture that was still entirely analogue.

The scenography of the presentation is based on murals made by Tordoir in 1996 in his studio, and on the use of bright colours in his recent works. The exhibited models are part of a donation of over one hundred scale models donated by the artist to M HKA.

Since 2017 M HKA presents changing archival presentations with the aim to preserve, document, and disclose visual art archives and estates. The programme of archival presentations is compiled by Evi Bert and Jan De Vree.

Narcisse Tordoir – MQ is curated by Samuel Saelemakers.

Hide this description