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Item: Les Paroles (III)

1994

Sculpture, 130 x 220 x 180 cm.
Materials: wood, iron, paint

Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. BK006079).

Les Paroles (III) [the words] is part of the series Les Paroles, which Jan Vercruysse created between 1993 and 1998. The recurring element in this series is the chair, which is placed on and next to tables and other pedestals in different compositions along with materials like bottles, marbles and glass. As the title of the series ('the words') suggests, themes like language and rhetoric, which had already been prominent in his works on paper, are now introduced in Vercruysse's sculptural work. The chairs and vertical composition of Les Paroles (III) give the impression of a pulpit or podium. However, the chair is empty. Again, Vercruysse is showing absence, this time absence of a voice, a conversation or a discourse. At the same time, though, Vercruysse creates a place with room for the (spoken) word. The empty pulpit implies the possibility of speech.