Xavier Hufkens is pleased to announce the opening of 3 new exhibitions on 9 March 2006: William Eggleston - James Welling - Stephen Wilks

Stranded in Canton, a most remarkable film from 1974 by the American photographer William Eggleston (° 1939), will be on view on the ground floor. Stranded in Canton (adj. drunk, stoned or just stuck some place you don’t want to be) is Eggleston’s first video project. With an old Sony Portapak Camera, he shot day and night in juke joints on sidewalks and bars in his hometown of Memphis, trailing friends as they drank and took drugs. The trademark colour of Eggleston’s photographs is replaced here by the odd eerie black and white of early video.

The American artist James Welling(° 1951) presents a selection of recent photographs in the more intimate context of the exhibition rooms on the second floor. The works belong to the series of Flowers, Dégradés, Screens and Tricolor Photographs. As in some earlier photographs, Welling concentrates in this series on the ever changing forms of light while manipulating the physical process of photography.

Stephen Wilks (° 1964) shows masks and models that are part of his multifaceted project Animal Farm. With the famous novel by George Orwell as his source of inspiration, Wilks creates a number of very diverse actions and projects that will finally result into a film. For the future actors in his film, Stephen Wilks has designed masks in cardboard and textile and has attached them to security helmets. They represent animals that feature into the novel: pigs first of all, but also donkeys, cows, dogs, sheep, crows, … The large animals models are created and fabricated on the occasion of the popular annual Carnival Parade in Aalst (Belgium).

You are kindly invited to join us for the opening on 9 March 2006, from 6 until 9 p.m.

Additional information about the exhibitions is available on our website: www.xavierhufkens.com.