Каталог подготовлен к выставке "Рыцарь отчаяния – воин красоты / Jan Fabre. Knight of Despair - Warrior of Beauty, созданной Отделом современного искусства Государственного Эрмитажа в рамках проекта «Эрмитаж 20/21», призванного собирать, выставлять, изучать искусство XX-XXI веков.

Fabre has created a number of new works especially for this exhibition displaying more than two hundred. Jan Fabre (Antwerp, 1958) is an artist and a director and uses his works to speculate in a loud and tangible manner about life and death, physical and social transformations as well as the nature of cruelty, which is present in both animals and humans. As a grandson of a famous entomologist, Jan Fabre widely uses wildlife aesthetics. He uses beetle shells, animal skeletons and horns as well as stuffed animals and images of animals in various materials. The list of unusual materials goes beyond that and covers blood and BIC blue ink. As emphasized by the painter and acknowledged by critics and researchers, his art goes back to the traditions of classic Flemish art, which he admires: Peter Paul Rubens and Jacob Jordaens are his main inspiration.