Michaël Borremans: As sweet as it gets

Borreman's enigmatic, psychologically charged and visually staggering works present sober-looking characters that lack identity or a clear role. They are portrayed in seemingly mundane environments and situations, which are nonetheless mysterious and indecipherable and consequently melancholic and unsettling. A hidden force seems to propel or dictate a narrative which is not entirely realized or fully told. Borremans engages in a fascinating dialogue with past masters (such as Diego Velázquez, Francisco de Goya, and Édouard Manet) and cinematic iconography (mainly films by David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick), while infusing his art with a contemporary critical outlook. The exhibition provides the Israeli public with a unique opportunity to view a complex body of work which is both disconcerting and mesmerizingly beautiful. Conveying a sense of disruption and ambiguity, the works invite multiple interpretations.