Presenting a powerful meditation upon the fundamental human search for transformation, transcendence and reconciliation in the light of mortality, De Bruyckere’s forthcoming exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Zurich, Limmatstrasse will feature new bronze and lead sculptures from the Arcangelo series. Alongside these, a selection of monumental, framed relief works and paper collages from the artist’s It almost seemed a lily series will be shown. Spanning both painting and sculpture, De Bruyckere works with wax, animal skins, paper, textiles, metal and wood to create hybrid forms with human, animal and plant features. Layering religious iconography and ancient mythology with narratives of transience, carnality and sensuality, Berlinde De Bruyckere surpasses religious connotations and transfers them to the realm of the universal and profane.

Placed high on plinths, De Bruyckere’s Arcangeli cast in bronze and lead offer protection, in spite of the heavy burden they seem to carry; captured in a dynamic moment of imbalance, tilting slightly forward, they are at once about to rise up yet are weighed down. Hovering between divine supremacy and human fragility, these mysterious, hybrid figures merge distinct human figuration with animal hides, revealing pointed protrusions at the shoulders that reinforce the suggestion of wings. These beings appear to carry a dark secret under their cloak of fluidly-draped skins and conjure an image as consoling and inviting as it is unnerving.

Born in Ghent, Belgium in 1964, where she currently lives and works, De Bruyckere is profoundly influenced by traditions of the Flemish Renaissance. Drawing from the legacies of the European Old Masters and religious iconography, as well as mythology and cultural lore, De Bruyckere layers existing histories with new narratives suggested by current events to create a psychological terrain of pathos, tenderness and unease. The vulnerability and fragility of man, the suffering body—both human and animal—and the overwhelming power of nature are some of the core motifs of De Bruyckere’s oeuvre.

Since her first exhibition in the mid-eighties, De Bruyckere’s sculptures and drawings have been the subject of numerous exhibitions in major institutions worldwide. These include ‘Berlinde De Bruyckere. PEL / Becoming the figure’, Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck, Remagen, Germany (2022); ‘Berlinde De Bruyckere. Plunder / Ekphrasis’, MO.CO. Montpellier Contemporain, Montpellier, France (2022); ‘Berlinde De Bruyckere. Engelenkeel’, Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht, The Netherlands (2021); ‘Berlinde De Bruyckere’, Middelheimmuseum, Antwerp, Belgium (2020); ‘Berlinde De Bruyckere. ALETHEIA’, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy (2019); ‘Berlinde De Bruyckere. It almost seemed a lily’, Museum Hof van Busleyden, Mechelen, Belgium (2018); ‘Embalmed’, Kunsthal Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark (2017); ‘Berlinde De Bruyckere. Suture’, Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria (2016); ‘Berlinde De Bruyckere. The Embalmer’, Kunstraum Dornbirn, Dornbirn, Austria (2015)’; and ‘Berlinde De Bruyckere. The Embalmer’ Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, Austria (2015). In 2013, De Bruyckere was selected to represent Belgium at the 55th Venice Biennale where she unveiled her monumental work ‘Kreupelhout – Cripplewood’.