M HKA Ensembles

Sculpture, 8 x (40 x 40 cm), 2 x (50 x 185 cm).

Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. BK5908_M102).

The work Personnage consists of an elongated black-painted panel upon which is its title is written in clear white letters. Smaller, protruding panels are attached to the main piece at right-angles, a bit like a series of signboards. These smaller panels display semi-abstract painted motifs, mirrors and photographic images. The mirrors reflect the motifs and images, lending a doubling-effect to the work. Moreover, together with the openings between the panels they create alternate perspectives. The perpendicular arrangement of the smaller motifs provides for a three-dimensional effect: a sculptural solution making it possible to break through the painting’s flat surface but without completely leaving it behind. This is an art work that is impossible to take in with a single glance, and traditional concepts like front and back become obscured. Time and memory play an important role here: the procession of images, colors and mirror-images turn ‘viewing’ into a real experience. Tordoir plays with our habitual ways of seeing. He desires and requires our active participation, and we literally have to move in space in order to read the work. This said, by the panels’ uniform format and rhythmical positioning, the artist nonetheless strives for homogeneity within this piece.