Abstract:
The aim of this thesis is to apply a variety of theoretical and phenomenological approaches to the artwork of Wolfgang Laib and Jan Fabre. These artists create immediately impactful artworks that become even more fascinating when approached closer up. Fabre employs millions of beetles’ bodies glistening in green lustre to create his sculptural works that seem to swarm. Laib uses tiny particles of pollen to quietly and serenely build up abstract patterns in luminous yellow. Each artist has a powerful charge, a creative physis running thought their art. This thesis tries to follow the flow of this vital thread. Laib and Fabre operate out of a respect for the microscopic, and embrace the possibilities of being whether this is in the past, the present, or the future. Neither entirely different, nor entirely the same as their contemporaries, Laib and Fabre weave complex stories of genealogy, geography, religion, and visual history, allegorical iconography, and organic bodies, entomology and palynology into richly narrative exercises of artistic production. Chapters one and two of the thesis trace aspects of biography, art history, entomology and palynology, symbolism, and organic cultures, in relation to a close visual analysis of the artists’ works. Linking these, is a consideration not only of the phenomenological experience of the works, but also the diverse ways in which we can theorise this phenomena. The first part of the final chapter considers contemporary scholarship on Laib and Fabre, assessing its weaknesses. The second part introduces a comparison between Laib and Fabre to Damien Hirst and Marc Quinn. All four artists use organic material, insects and living bodies to create aesthetic objects, however, once compared to their contemporaries it becomes evident that Laib and Fabre do this in unique ways.