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Marco Meneguzzo
analogy comes to the aid of critical interpretation, demonstrating how the intimate dimension of the sub ject of Buedts’ work has its equivalent in an “intimate” physical dimension. And the simplest ‘intimate’ physical dimension for sculpture is that of smallness, of transfer ability, of weight being handled by a single person (not even a particularly strong one) : It is not about reducing the Farnese Hercules to a table centrepiece in bronze, but instead about constructing a table on the scale of a bird, about creating a chair that does not challenge the centuries, but is simply party to our existence … However, it really seems it was this focus on a domestic dimension that was one of the various aspects that provoked a deep crisis in Buedts, to the point of leading him to abandon sculpting for almost a decade in favour of experiments with painting, which were, if pos sible, even more intimate, almost intimistic. When, in 1986, he was invited to participate in the famous Chambres d’Amis in Ghent – one of the most memorable exhi bitions of that era – his three-dimensional works were directly confronted with the monumentality of works conceived expressly for the museum (even though ini tially intended for the most beautiful houses in Ghent)
and realised for the event, while he simply transferred what he produced in accordance with that intimate necessity mentioned earlier to another location. The art system at that time, however, also demanded something more from those with a seemingly greater affinity with Buedts, such as the Italian Arte Povera artists and those who engaged in American Anti-Form. His work is not avant-garde ; it is not declamatory or monumental or even openly ‘social’ ; he uses materials, instruments and means that would only be acceptable – in that moment of triumph for figurative painting – if inserted into an artistic context that holds its ground against the return of ‘representation’ in art. Buedts remained, instead, as far as possible from this polemic. More precisely, he remained far away from this problem, as his sculpture has an eminently existential rather than historical vocation. It is individual rather than collective ; necessary rather than confirming and its language is determined by a tradition tout court, not by the ‘tradition of the new’. The crisis lasted more than ten years, those years in which there is a ‘black hole’ in Buedts’ public his tory, during which the exhibitions became few and far between and eventually ceased altogether. During
z.t. [Untitled], 2006 Krijt en potlood op papier / Chalk and pencil on paper, 29,7 x 21 cm Privécollectie / Private collection
z.t. [Untitled], 2006 Krijt en potlood op papier / Chalk and pencil on paper, 29,7 x 21 cm Privécollectie / Private collection