Conceptual Rigor and Elegant Materiality.

Kris Martin (b. Kortrijk, 1972; lives and works in Ghent) makes art that fascinates beholders with its conceptual rigor and elegant play with the physical properties of his materials. In installations, sculptu-res, photographs, drawings, writings, and sound pieces, the Belgian conceptual artist raises existential questions. Working in the tradition of the objet trouvé, he performs minute interventions to alter the essence of objects, creating blanks that the beholder can fill with his or her own associations. Through such displacements of context, which reflect his subtle sense of humor, Martin examines the intense experience of time and the ephemeral qualities of art. Published in conjunction with Martin's first solo exhibition at the S.M.A.K. Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst in Ghent, the artist's book Idiot is a handwritten copy of the literary classic of the same title by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Martin spent several months faithfully replicating each of 1,496 pages, replacing the hero's name with his own for a unique and peculiar emulation of Prince Myshkin's quest for spiritual transformation.