Artwork of the month - video (55 sec)
with special guest Glenn Geerinck*.

Sacred Ladder

Year	2021
Size	14 cm x 7 cm x 30 cm
Materials	clay, glazes, wood, metalwork
Options	/
Edition	1/1
For Sale	Yes, contact our gallery Fred&Ferry (Antwerp, BE)
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These ceramic sculptures depict a transcendental scene. Two abstract figures can be seen guarding a ladder. Each rung of the ladder is protected with an eye symbol. The ladder itself leads upwards, to the sky or to heaven. It is unclear whether the guards are waiting for something to descend the ladder, or perhaps protecting someone who has been sent up it.

The duality of the two figures, with the ladder in between them, might incline one to read this work as one of the artists’ self-portraits. However, the abstraction of the guards’ appearance also leaves room for the viewer to see themselves in the figures. These visually recognisable figures have recently featured in a lot of work by Robbert&Frank: clay tablets, (wall) drawings, sculptures and more.

The figures operate in a different reality. On the one hand, they represent the artists going about their everyday activities. On the other hand, they also function as alter egos with magic or ritual characteristics. They protect, activate or transform symbolic images and messages.

In this way, these dual figures likewise transform, protect and activate the ladder: a symbol that connects the earthly with the heavenly, that aids in transcending the borders of time and space.

*Glenn Geerinck is an independent curator, currently heading the visual arts program at De Warande, Turnhout.

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