Other Museums


1.) NATIONAL MUSEUM OF PHOTOGRAPHY of Quebec - Canada

The Musée National de la Photographie de Québec is the only museum, along with the San Damon Museum, to hold all eleven of San Damon's works from the entity S.O.I (Sophisme Oniroscopiste Introspectif), which have been the subject of two documentary films in which eight intellectuals and academics analyse them. It is a conceptual entity starting from the four Oniroscospitic seasons, those that we still recognise, to gradually reach abstraction:

 

1.) Spring whose ochre, blue and magenta tones through trees on a black background transpose the season to its oniroscopic universe.

2.) Summer, whose red mixes with purple, blue and magenta, the oniroscopic magenta, a marriage between red and blue magenta. But the great director, here again as in the previous one, is black.

3.) The birth of autumn where ochres, yellow-ochres, green-jades, bluish mauves and reddish magentas twirl around. A long path of colours, interspersed with luminous and changing whites, crosses the work head-on.

4.) Winter, raw and final, arrives and in its background a black and ochre light. All the vegetation is naked of all its protective attributes. The colours that are applied are bluish, purplish, and white spots of light embellish this cold that seems warm.

5.) Hesitation is the fifth element, a sort of child born of four parents, where the shades of colour are even more infinite.

6.) The missing link floats in absolute uncertainty, everything is mauve, everything is magenta, a few bluish, blackish branches seem to be a barrier.

7.) Disturbance, certainly seen as madness. The pungent green elements explode.

8.) The imbalance, suddenly a brutal wall, like bars of freedom, presents warm tones. Black is in the distance, a lighter carpet appears in various places.

9.) Abstraction, bringing confusion before the viewer, it seems calm but hieroglyphs and pictograms appear.

10.) Introspection, a time of rest, of slumber before apprehending a cascade of black jets caught in magenta, ochre and broken white.

11.) The sophistry, a deep black with a passivity of colour on its right. We have before us, infinity.

DOCUMENtary films " SAN DAMON S.O.I  " Part one and part two "


2.) Museum of Belgian Literature

The Belgian Museum of Literature is in possession of six works by San Damon. Three on the theme of Brussels, three on the theme of New York. Here is what Marc Quaghebeur, the Museum's Director, wrote in 2014 when he acquired them.

 

"A photographer with a swaying gait and a lightning eye, San Damon makes us rediscover the urban world through a game of tilting spaces and metamorphosis of colours.

In this way, he allows time to enter his images while giving the impression of speed.

The generic term "Oniroscopisms" suits his work perfectly.

He uses overexposure as well as blurring and an incandescent palette.

Two triptychs, one dedicated to Brussels and the other to New York, have just been added to the collections of the Archives & Museum of Literature.

Manhattan is next to the gardens of the Petit Sablon, just as the static onlookers at the fountain in Central Park are next to the zooming cars of a famous Brussels boulevard."

3.)  MUSEUM OF MODERN ART OF THE SACRED HEART BASILICA IN BRUSSELS

The characters take on a bronze aspect, the vegetation is dreamlike, the objects take on an unexpected symbolism. We feel as if we are floating in another dimension, three, four, eight, we don't know anymore, a euphoria joins the confusion.

 

The silver process used by San Damon allows for depths of field and extraordinary enlargements, as well as baths that the artist, according to his inspiration, overexposes or underexposes. This crucifixion is called "When Jesus became the Christ".  

It is there, it is our time, and the artist does not skimp on the powerful allegory.

The work represents Jesus surrounded by transposed vegetation, like a sort of Garden of Eden, the expression of the face and the look of Christ are determined but gentle at the same time. You want to follow him, you understand forgiveness and what Catholicism is built on.

It is one of the rare Crucifixions to be represented horizontally, presented here in situ, which gives it a phenomenal impact, an incredible spirituality and an almost intimate proximity, as well as for its staging, which owes everything to the treatment that the artist has given it.

When Jesus became the Christ, by San Damon. In the Museum of Modern Art of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Brussels
When Jesus became the Christ, by San Damon. In the Museum of Modern Art of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Brussels

Museum of Maredsous Abbey

Symbolism and interpretation of the Last Supper in 13 acts

 

The abbey has a permanent exhibition of San Damon's "The Last Supper in 13 Acts" as a heritage item. This work is the only one in the world, certified by the Vatican, to include 13 photographic paintings of each of the apostles, with their points of view. The symbolism and the interpretation of the tragedy are at stake here, both in form and in content. The Last Supper, the last meal of Christ, is approached here in an unexpected way. Indeed, if this painting, or its representation, has often been treated, and well before Da Vinci, it has never been treated from the point of view of the apostles and the almost real-time evolution of their reactions, an awareness and an intuition of each of the people caught in the act. This historical translation of this primordial act in the history of mankind brings together here, undoubtedly because the characters are of our time, a very particular symbolism.

Time is no longer suspended, as it is in the other works dealing with this subject, but rather it flows as it is observed. The two double triptychs that accompany the central Last Supper allow us to enter fully into the moment, into the minutes that pass after Jesus says to his invited disciples the words: "Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me". Listen to Beethoven's 9th (scherzo movement) and stare at the Last Supper in San Damon, you will see the trees overflowing, the leaves quivering, the bronze figures overwhelmed by their instincts, and the table of guests set up and adorned with victuals faltering under the unfolding drama. And yet a kind of pleasure that goes beyond that sweeps us along, that of discovering the secrets, the delight of knowing more. First of all, let us consider the setting of the Last Supper, the central painting. It seems out of time, its space and place do not determine anything. Of course, there is an indication of the clothing of the characters, but it does not jump out at us directly because we are absorbed by something else... the abundance of vegetation, dense and thick.

But our attention is also held by a slightly rising greenhouse in the background of the characters, it structures what is going to play out before our eyes. In the foreground, a very long table with a falling tablecloth almost hits the grass with its folds. Christ remains calm as if he were waiting, or even more, observing the reaction of his disciples. The decor is exuberant, the flora is everywhere and yet the characters are there, charismatic; in tragedy, there is first of all the human being and his multiple weaknesses. It is now essential to step back from the work as a whole, to take the time to assess everything. Then it is good to approach the first act of the double triptych.

Act I: We have Bartholomew's point of view, I should say, we are Bartholomew, the apostle standing at the far left of the table. He is the reason, the one who wants to know who the traitor is, the axis takes the whole table and the first feelings are felt. The second is that of fear, James the minor knows the context of the authority and is apprehensive of its reaction, we can already see a change in the faces. André presents himself as innocent, he immediately wants to make it known that he has nothing to do with it, his hands in evidence, he marks this fact, the eyes meet and question each other. Then comes Judas, hiding a purse, which San Damon does not show much in his work, you have to look between the characters, between the objects spread out on the table.

Judas wears a face that the liturgy knows well, his slight smile says a lot about the hours that preceded this last supper, he seems to be the only one who is not really indignant, at this precise moment we feel explicitly that he does not know that he will commit suicide the next day. And then there is Peter, Peter who, in the low mass, wants to give his opinion in John's ear, without it being heard too much, or perhaps to comfort him. He is prudence. Then comes John or Mary Magdalene, also obscure here. Whatever the case, the figure seems sad, resigned, listening to Peter's words. We are in the centre of the table, the power of Christ is unquestionable, the majesty is in him, he awaits his fate, serene, knowing that what he is going to bring to those who believe in him will put them out of reach of all tragedies, he is going to suffer the worst for them. His face is mother-of-pearl, determined, ready to brave offence.

At this point San Damon brings in a thirteenth character, Mathias, who, after Judas has hanged himself the day after this meal, replaces him and, above all, will be the only apostle to witness the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. Mathias leans into Christ's ear, we can think that he assures him of his support, that he seeks, if there is still any doubt, to know who the traitor is. And for good reason, it is from this seventh picture onwards that the other axes are taken from his point of view, more intimate, close to a confidence. Emotions change and confusion sets in on the faces as we move between the disciples. Mathias turns first to his right, the looks have changed again, three faces are in close-up. Thomas the disbeliever, who steps forward, his index finger accusing such a statement, he is the one who questions, who asks for proof of what he has just heard. James the middle finger, sitting right next to Jesus, seems to want to hold him back. He is the one who believes this is possible, he wants Christ to be allowed to speak, he wants to know more.

Standing behind them is Philip, who refuses to be seen as the traitor. Matthias turns to his right and looks as if in close-up at the faces of the first six apostles. Some of them are already blurred, as if excluded from the debate. Perhaps the implicit consequence of the felon being there. Then and until the last of the pictures, Mathias interferes between the disciples, the uncommon axes are more likely to capture the feelings of each of them. Matthew, who calls out, "Do you hear this? "outraged that a traitor is among them. Simon: "I don't understand that such a thing is possible". Thaddeus discusses, seems to take advice from Simon. The conscious imbalance makes us put into reason the different characters of the witnesses of this last meal. And it is indisputable that the different aspects and contradictions of human beings are represented here.

La Cène en 13 actes selon San Damon
La Cène en 13 actes selon San Damon