Michaël Borremans: The Monkey

Presenting the Belgian artist Michaël Borremans’s newest group of psychologically charged paintings, this catalogue highlights his exceptional technical skill, interest in figuration, and innovative approach to mise-en-scène.

＂Everything is a self-portrait. And now I have been painting monkeys. . . . It’s like making a movie.＂ --Michaël Borremans, Interview magazine

As a pendant to his acclaimed catalogue The Acrobat, The Monkey showcases seventeen paintings that reveal his interest in exploring surface and artifice. Borremans portrays mysterious sitters--including the titular monkeys, which are glazed toy figurines--and depicts enigmatic scenes that simultaneously invite viewers in and keep them at bay.

Katya Tylevich’s insightful commentary delves into the depths of Borremans’s compositions, connecting the themes and motifs in The Monkey to those present in previous bodies of work. Tylevich delves into the complex emotional and art-historical registers at play in the artist’s new paintings and maps the trajectory of his practice, observing other instances of repetition and fabulation across his practice. The publication, featuring this essay alongside beautifully illustrated images of the new paintings, serves as the ideal complement to the artist’s 2024 exhibition at David Zwirner, London.

Michaël Borremans’s (b. 1963) innovative approach to painting combines technical mastery with subject matter that defies straightforward interpretation. His charged canvases address universal themes that seem to resonate with a specifically contemporary complexity.

Katya Tylevich is author of Marina Abramovic: A Visual Biography (2023); Gus Van Sant: The Art of Making Movies; Art Oracles, Success Oracles (2021); and many book and monograph contributions, essays and interviews. She is the coauthor of My Life as a Work of Art (2016). Notable artist collaborations include The Marina Abramovic Method Cards (2022) and projects with Barry McGee, Todd Hido, and Espen Dietrichson. Katya has been a contributing editor and writer for publications such as Elephant, Mark, Frame, Domus, and Pin-Up. With her brother Alexei she co-founded Friend & Colleague, a platform for editions, fiction and special projects.