Jan Fabre

Jan Fabre (born Antwerp) – performer, designer, sculptor, author and theatre creator – is one of the most intriguing, complete and complex figures in the contemporary art world. Philosophy, religion and science permeate his works, in which Fabre, using a contemporary approach, incorporates and transcends themes and concepts from the Flemish tradition, with references to artists such as Hieronymus Bosch, Jan Van Eyck and Pieter Brueghel. He was the first contemporary artist to be featured a solo exhibit at the Louvre Museum in Paris (2008).

In 2008 a gallery of life-size self portraits of characters was displayed in Naples in Piazza Plebiscito, as part of the exhibition Il ragazzo con la luna e le stelle sulla testa (The boy with the moon and the stars on his head), in 2016, the Jan Fabre. Spiritual Guards exhibit entailed showing more than 80 works in Florence between Piazza della Signoria, Palazzo Vecchio and Forte di Belvedere and the artist presented the striking solo show Knight of despair/Warrior of beauty at the Hermitage in St Petersburg.