M HKA Ensembles

Installation, 300 x 150 x 280 cm.

Collection: Courtesy of the artist.

With a background in philosophy, Mathieu Verhaeghe’s practice sits at the tension between art, existential weight and humour. His ongoing Rack and Sausage Series of paintings utilise pork intestines typically used to make sausages, together with various types of paint, including acrylic, oil or discarded house paint. Partly inspired by Iberian sausage-making techniques, the works are at once an investigation of painting, yet also deadpan phallic objects, with additional associations of death or slaughter. In Bolaño’s Antwerp, the first and most direct reference to the city itself is in chapter 49, titled Antwerp. It reads: “In Antwerp, a man was killed when his car was run over by a truck full of pigs. Lots of pigs died too when the truck overturned, others had to be put out of their misery by the side of the road and others took off as fast as they could …”. Such incidents and encounters are the fine line between life and death, but provide a sense of human drama and transience.