It Almost Seemed a Lily

Belgian artist Berlinde De Bruyckere's most recent work is inspired by the sixteenth-century artefacts known as the Enclosed Gardens. The Gardens are small wooden cabinets filled with a profusion of artefacts, ranging from handmade sculptures to flowers and animals in silk, and including wax medallions and fabric-wrapped bone relics. De Bruyckere senses a natural affinity between her work and these wonderful microcosms, which were part of the spiritual world of the sisters of the Hospital of Our Lady in Mechelen, who crafted them with the utmost care and devotion.With her series 'It almost seemed a lily', De Bruyckere enters into a dialogue with the seven Enclosed Gardens of Mechelen, which are now recognised as masterpieces. She has created monumental wooden frames that house the tender silhouette of a flower, the latter of which is composed of a multitude of materials that can conceal as much as they reveal. The imposing dimensions of the frames contrast with the fragility of their interiors. Just as the sumptuous Gardens stimulate the imagination and suggest a paradisiacal 'garden', the material stratification and interwoven contrasts in De Bruyckere's works also evoke another time and space, a Utopia. 00Exhibition: Museum Hof van Busleyden, Mechelen, Belgium (15.12.2018 - 12.05.2019).