Jan Fabre: Songs of the Canaries: A Tribute to Emiel Fabre and Robert Stroud
Curated by Dimitri Ozerkov
12th October, 2024 – November 23rd, 2024
Mucciaccia Gallery
21 Dering St
London
W1S 1AL
Mucciaccia Gallery is delighted to present Songs of the Canaries (A Tribute to Emiel Fabre and Robert Stroud), a solo exhibition by visionary Belgian artist Jan Fabre at our London location. The exhibition features a new body of sculptures meticulously carved from Carrara marble, alongside a collection of intimate, small-scale drawings.
Born in Antwerp in 1958, Jan Fabre is a leading innovator and one of the most influential figures in the international contemporary art world. Known for his contributions to visual art, theater, and literature, Fabre was the first living artist to hold large-scale solo exhibitions at prestigious institutions such as the Louvre Museum in Paris (2008) and the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg (2017). He remains the only artist to have received the honor of the Cour d’Honneur at the Festival of Avignon on three separate occasions (2001, 2005, and 2006), and the only contemporary artist commissioned to create a new work for the Felsenreitschule at the Salzburg Festival in 2007.
Carrara white marble h 45x50x42 cm
Image courtesy of Mucciaccia Gallery
Birds have long served as metaphysical symbols in Fabre’s art, acting as messengers between earth and sky, as well as between life and death. In Songs of the Canaries, this theme unfolds through a series of sculptures featuring canaries perched atop human brains, seemingly contemplating the mind’s inner workings. With evocative titles such as Thinking Outside the Cage (2024), Measuring the Neurons (2024), and Sharing Secrets About the Neurons (2024), these sculptures harmonize the sounds of the sky with the echoes of human thoughts, brought to life through Fabre’s delicate craftsmanship.
At the heart of the exhibition is The Man Who Measures His Own Planet (2024). In this striking piece, a figure stands tall atop a stepladder, arms outstretched as if striving to measure the infinite vastness of the heavens. The sculpture features a cracked-open skull that reveals the “terra incognita” — the unexplored terrain of the artist’s brain — symbolizing his lifelong quest to understand the incomprehensible. This figure is modeled after Fabre’s own body, with the face referencing his late brother, Emiel, who passed away at a young age and to whom the exhibition is dedicated.
Image courtesy of Mucciaccia Gallery
The sculpture also serves as a tribute to Robert Stroud, the “Birdman of Alcatraz,” a prisoner who became a renowned ornithologist specializing in canaries. Stroud was given birds to study in his cell, and even in captivity, these creatures found the strength to sing and inspire the mind. Upon his release, when asked by journalists what he planned to do with the rest of his life, Stroud replied, “I am going to measure the clouds.”
Carrara white marble
h 45x50x42 cm
Image courtesy of Mucciaccia Gallery
Songs of the Canaries takes on a deeper significance when considering the Flemish phrase, “The canary is singing too loud in his brain.” Here, Fabre reflects on Emiel’s fatal childhood disease, suggesting that the overwhelming intensity of life’s “song” can sometimes become unbearable. Through this work, Fabre immortalizes Emiel’s spirit, capturing the essence of someone forever striving toward the infinite while attempting to measure the immeasurable.
Ultimately, this exhibition is a poetic tribute to the fragility of life, the pursuit of dreams, and humanity’s enduring quest to understand the heavens.
Jan Fabre: Songs of the Canaries: A Tribute to Emiel Fabre and Robert Stroud opens on the 12th of October, 2024 until the 23rd of November, 2024 at Mucciaccia Gallery
©2024 Mucciaccia Gallery
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