Jan Vercruysse (3 October 1948 – 27 February 2018) was a Belgian contemporary visual artist, sculptor and photographer.

Life and work

Vercruysse was born in

Ostend Ostend ( ; ; ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Raversijde, Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the la ...

and died in

Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...

, both

Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...

municipalities in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. Prior to becoming a visual artist and photographer in 1974, Vercruysse studied law and had been a poet. As a sculptor, his work featured industrial materials such as

corten steel Weathering steel, often referred to by the genericised trademark COR-TEN steel and sometimes written without the hyphen as corten steel, is a group of steel alloys that form a stable external layer of rust that eliminates the need for painti ...

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

and

glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

. He has also previously lived and worked in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Vercruysse represented his country

at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

in 1993, where he exhibited a selection of his work. Vercruysse's work is part of many important European and American museum collections and is referred to as one of Belgium's most influential artists. He is represented by

Xavier Hufkens Xavier Hufkens Gallery is a contemporary art gallery founded by Belgian art dealer Xavier Hufkens (b. 1965). The gallery has three locations in Brussels and represents an international roster of some forty emerging, mid-career, and established art ...

Gallery in Brussels as well as Vistamare and Tucci Russo in Italy.

Awards and recognition

Flemish Culture Prize for the Visual Arts (2001)

Museum exhibitions

A selection of exhibitions of work produced by Vercruysse include: *''Works 1975-2009'', M - Museum Leuven, Belgium (2009) *''Salto Prolungato'', Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium (2001) *''Portretten van de Kunstenaar – Portraits de l’Artiste'',

Centre for Fine Arts The Centre for Fine Arts (, ; , ) is a multi-purpose cultural venue in the Royal Quarter of Brussels, Belgium. It is often referred to as BOZAR (a homophone of ''Beaux-arts'') in French or by its initials PSK in Dutch. This multidisciplinary s ...

, Brussels, Belgium (1999) *''Portretten van de Kunstenaar – Portraits of the Artist'',

Van Abbemuseum The Van Abbemuseum () in Eindhoven is one of the first public museums for contemporary art to be established in Europe. The museum’s collection includes key works and archives by Joseph Beuys, Marc Chagall, René Daniëls, Marlene Dumas, Shee ...

, Eindhoven, Netherlands (1998) *''The Villas, Haus Lange – Haus Esters'', Krefelder Museen, Krefeld, Germany (1995) *

The Power Plant The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery is a Canadian public art gallery located at Harbourfront Centre in the heart of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Gallery is a registered Canadian charitable organization. Initially established in 1976 as ...

, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (1993) * Padiglione di Belgio,

, Venice, Italy (1993) *''Tombeaux'', Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Castle of Rivoli, Rivoli, Italy (1992) *

, Eindhoven, Netherlands (1992) * Kunsthalle Bern, Bern, Switzerland (1989) *

Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille The Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille (''Lille Palace of Fine Arts'') is a municipal museum dedicated to fine arts, modern art, and antiquities located in Lille. It is one of the largest art museums in France. It was one of the first museums built i ...

, Brussels, Belgium (1988) * ARC, City of Paris Museum of Modern Art, Paris, France (1986)

References

External links

*
Jan Vercruysse
at

, Brussels, Belgium Artists from Ostend Belgian contemporary artists 1948 births 2018 deaths {{Belgium-artist-stub