Sculpture, observation, figuration, representation, realism, life-size, tradition, craftmanship, carving, staining, polishing, continuity, innovation, originality, mimesis, alienation, expression, emotion, intellectual, cerebral, quotation, illusion, theatrical, contemplative, layered, complex... The list of nouns, adjectives and verbs to describe the two sculptures forming an inseparable duo, is endless.

Mater Dolorosa and Grave together form Pietà. They narrate the story of a grieving mother at the grave of her son. Both objects are identical in style and how their material has been treated: they complement each other in respect of the subject matter. They are both the physical result of a laborious process of wood carving as developed in the baroque: they are identical in their mimetic power, with which we are familiar from the Graeco-Roman tradition. With regard to the status of the represented object, there is a critical reflex that is characteristic of contemporary art.

The realistic representation of the human body is exemplary for the development of the Western artistic tradition, while the spatial reproduction of an object (the Barcelona Daybed by Mies Van der Rohe in this case) leads to an illusory kaleidoscope. This multifaceted illustration of various aspects of the mimesis (in the jargon, critical interrogation) places the sculpture in the thought of contemporary art. There where the baroque was a delirious performance of appearance and illusion, it is now a subject of critical reflection.

 

However intellectually satisfying all the history, aesthetics and intellectual games might be, however amazing the mastery of a craft, it is the deep emotional effect of the sculptures that is the actual subject of the Pietà.

Every intellectual approach of the theme misses the experience evoked by looking at and seeing deep human grief. That is an experience that connects the present with the past, irrespective of style or aesthetic principles. This is the power of sculpture.