KRIS MARTIN

An early Renaissance masterpiece, The Ghent Altarpiece is inarguably one of history’s most influential artworks. It is also the most stolen. Since its completion in 1432 it has been the target of 13 different crimes; it has been smuggled, censored, ransomed and attacked by iconoclasts. The altarpiece, which is currently undergoing extensive conservation and restoration has, since World-War II, been reconstructed and is on view with the exception of one crucial missing element. The lower left panel, known as The Just Judges, is currently represented by a high-resolution photographic reproduction. For his exhibition, Martin will cover this panel with a mirror, at once inducting the observer as an active participant, while simultaneously implicating the viewer as one of the ‘just judges.’

This type of gesture is typical in Martin’s lyrical and conceptual practice which engages, amongst many ideas, that of the readymade. Through subtle acts of appropriation and intervention, Martin radically shifts the meaning of an object. He once stated, ‘I see every piece as an invitation for the viewer to reflect: trying to activate one’s individual thoughts about one’s own life, without having any intention to force one’s thoughts to go in a certain direction.’ Throughout the exhibitions there will be a series of objects at once familiar, and uncanny. The duality of mirroring—literally and conceptually—is at the crux of this exhibition: each work on view in Ghent will have its ‘double’ on view at the gallery in New York. Conflating the sacred space of the Cathedral in Ghent with the secular space of the New York Gallery, Martin creates a compelling and subversive group of works infused with humour and wit that continue his ongoing investigation into major questions of human experience and spiritual belief.

Kris Martin, born in 1972, lives and works in Mullem, Belgium. Martin has been the subject of solo exhibitions at international museums including the Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany; the Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland; Kestnergesellschaft Hanover, Germany; the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany; the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria; the Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, Germany; the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, California; the Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, Colorado; the Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium; and MoMA P.S.1, New York amongst others. His work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions including the Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany; the Louvre, Paris, France; the Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom; the Centre Pompidou, Paris France; the 4^th Berlin Biennale, Berlin, Germany; the Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany; the KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany; and The Jewish Museum, New York. His work is included in prominent public and private collections such as the Burger Collection, Hong Kong; The David Roberts Art Foundation, London, United Kingdom; K21, Dusseldorf, Germany; the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; the Olbricht Collection, Berlin, Germany; Sammlung Boros, Berlin and Sammlung Philara, Düsseldorf, Germany; the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent, Belgium; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota; The Warehouse, Dallas, Texas; and the Zabludowicz Collection, London, United Kingdom.