When Nick Ervinck invited me to the Sculptural II exhibition, I didn’t have to hesitate for long. The location: a deconsecrated church. The proposal: the work Lamb of God / Self-Portrait 50, after Van Eyck.in the middle of the altar. People sometimes say that art should surprise, but in this case it was rather as if the work had already reserved its place.
Context is everything. This is a truth I learned earlier in Italy, where people drink an espresso as if they were celebrating mass. There I learned that rituals are important, even – and perhaps especially – when one no longer knows what they are for. They are a kind of coat rack for the soul.
And so I placed the Lamb of God on this altar. That sounds simpler than it was, because one does not carelessly place a lamb on an altar – especially if it symbolizes the sins of the world. The lamb looks at you, politely but not without judgment. To the left of the lamb, in a niche, a new work: Hands of God. Not a whole God, just a Hand – which is also quite reassuring in these times.
Beneath the lamb is written in Latin letters, Ecce Agnus Dei, qui tollit peccata mundi. “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” A phrase that sounds like an echo from another century, and – oddly enough – comes in louder in this secularized environment than in a cathedral full of incense and Gregorian chant.
The Lamb is without Mass, without choir, without incense, just a being looking questioningly. Can there still be a new beginning without first giving up something? Perhaps it lies in the willingness of personal sacrifice, the willingness to be vulnerable.
For that space – this opportunity – I thank Nick Ervinck and his team. They offered me an altar, and that’s a lot these days.
Sculptural II ’25 – Date: 29/06/2025 – 31/08/2025
with Willem Boel, Folkert De Jong, Nick Ervinck, Joke Raes, Anne Wenzel
Curator: Nick Ervinck
Jonkvrouwe Gelaplein, Sint-Pieters-Kapelle (Middelkerke)
In collaboration with NQ Gallery, Antwerp
Opening: August 10, 2025, with the same artists
