Wim Delvoye frequently distorts certain stylistic elements and motifs from art history in his practice, elevating trivial yet unconventional objects. The neo-conceptual artist cleverly merges philosophical ideas, the use of fresh materials, and a love for craftsmanship. With his early works from the early 1980s, Delvoye succeeded in drawing attention to himself within the art world. He places dynastic emblems on ironing boards and shovels, Delft patterns on gas cylinders, and stained glass windows on football goalposts. By using the contrasts between high and low art, contemporary art and popular culture, he combines craft with conceptual art and employs seriousness in the face of irony.
Delvoye’s works, constantly oscillating between opposing realms such as the sacred-secular or local-global, cynically confront various myths that fuel our contemporary society, including religion, science, and capitalism. Since the early 2000s, with his evolving Gothic works, Delvoye walks a fine line between exploring artistic styles of the past and monumentalism; by emphasizing the Medieval Gothic style, he aims to create a new form of contemporary architecture by interpreting it with contemporary themes and industrial techniques. He uses highly ornate motifs and decorations not as decorative quotes, but as patterns of values and permanence in the modern age.
Born in Belgium in 1965, Wim Delvoye received his art education at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent. Since the late 1980s, Delvoye began attracting attention in the art world, aiming to create works that elevate ordinary objects and are unconventional by combining historical and contemporary elements in his artistic practice. He deepened his artistic research, particularly drawing inspiration from Gothic cathedrals, Bosch, Brueghel, and Warhol’s works. At the same time, he used a language that oscillated between respect and disrespect with a baroque approach.
One of Delvoye’s most famous works is Mosaicat, exhibited at Documenta IX in 1992. This work is a symmetrical mosaic containing photographs of the artist’s own excrement, showcasing Delvoye’s ability to combine high art with folk art. Additionally, the Pig Tattoo project, which caused a stir in the 1990s by tattooing the skin of pigs, is one of the artist’s boldest and most controversial works. In the 2000s, he also attracted attention with his Cloaca project.
His Gothic Towers (2009), which grew in size over time, were exhibited during the Venice Biennale at Canal Grande (Peggy Guggenheim Museum), Musée Rodin (Paris, 2010), Bozar (Brussels, 2010), and at the Jing’An Sculpture Park in Shanghai (2012). During his 2012 solo exhibition, another twisted spiral tower version hanging at the Louvre’s pyramid displayed the artist’s ongoing interest in historical spaces and his fascination with ornamental remnants that combine history and modernity.
Wim Delvoye lives and works in London.