The famous Triptych “The Garden of Delights” (1500-1505) is the most complex and enigmatic piece of the flemish painter Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516) and is also one of the most iconic works of the Museo del Prado. It is a triptych that serves as a social portrait of the times of the artist in which it is manifested, through its hundreds of characters and animals -real and fantastic-, the imaginary, the symbolism and the fears of the time in which it was made.

With the aim of rediscovering the Bosch´s masterpiece and enhancing digital art and experimental creations, the exhibition “The garden of delights, a tour through the works of the SOLO Collection” offers us a current review of The Garden of Delights from contemporary creations belonging to the SOLO Collection. Access to the exhibition is free and can be visited until 27 February in Nave 17 of Matadero Madrid.

The exhibition route -and the installation- has been architecturally designed by the Herreros Studio -which highlights the use of cardboard to divide the spaces- and brings together the work of a fortnight of contemporary artists, among which we can highlight SMACK, Dave Cooper, Filip Custic, Mario Klingemann… The universal values and the symbolic richness that can be found in the work of Bosch are exploited in this exhibition through means such as digital and sound art, 3D animation, painting, sculpture and installation.

One of the first works we discovered when accessing the exhibition is the painting Bosco Cooper (2018) by comic book artist and graphic designer Dave Cooper. In this reinterpretation of the work of Bosch the moralizing character of the original piece is reformulated by a vision that seeks the celebration of the forbidden through a humorous orgy full of exotic and voluptuous characters.

The way in which another of the creators, in this case Filip Custic, a multidisciplinary Spanish-Croatian artist, approaches the work of the Dutch artist through a virtual triptych of immersive character in which 3D animation has a lot of weight. In his creation Alpha (2021) Custic reflects on the nature of time through virtual tables presented in a timeline.

SPECULUM (2019-2020) by the Dutch art collective SMACK is undoubtedly the most significant work of the entire exhibition. The work is divided into three large LED screens -more than 20 meters- which, similar to the Garden of Delights, represents reality through the representation of Eden, Paradise and Hell, forming a reflection of our current reality in which we are forced to reflect on the society in which we live. Although the digital animation video that can be seen on these screens is only 3 minutes long, the complexity of the scenes and figures represented demands a much longer contemplation and reflection from the viewer.

The conception of this modern adaptation of the original picture would not have been possible without the involvement of artificial intelligence and the use of 3D animation.

Without a doubt an exhibition with food of first necessity, all the works are first course.

Art for Hungry.

Text: Iustinian Bolohan.

Photo: Detail of “The Garden of Delights” – Museo del Prado.

HōRNō _ Online Art Gallery.