Borremans' Circus

Michaël Borremans has a deft touch with the handling of paint. At a time when painting itself is at issue, Borremans makes mysterious and compelling paintings that combine both skill and intelligence. He has succeeded in creating, within a self-inflicted tight tonal range, a resinous and resonant art that demands a contemplative response. Borremans' work epitomises time. Time in the making, a time encapsulated, and consequently, time for its reception. In an era when visual communication is getting faster, his paintings seem to be getting slower. In that, he is near to the artist Vija Celmins who also succeeds in making hard-earned paintings. But unlike Celmins who leaves her meaning dangling without a cause, Borremans has defined his themes, albeit obliquely. There is a ringmaster in charge here but his animals are not exotic, they are beasts of burden – the burden painting, the beast painting,