Office Baroque is pleased to announce a new solo exhibition of Jan De Cock. This will be the third exhibition of Jan De Cock at Office Baroque. The exhibition is divided into two parts. The first part Abstract Capitalism III will run at Lempertz on Rue du grand Cerf, Brussels from 17 October thru 31 October 2017. The second part Sculptor Studio for Sale will run at Office Baroque on Bloemenhofplein, Brussels from 26 October thru 9 December 2017.

For Abstract Capitalism III, on view at Lempertz, various lots from the artist’s studio can be previewed as part of a private sale. Lots available under closed bidding, include both recent sculpture from the artist’s studio as well as stereoscopic commemorative wall plaques, typeset by the artist, that conclude De Cock’s ambitious series Sculpturecommunism. Apart from original works by De Cock, the sale also includes the Jan De Cock Studio, which is located in a renovated paper mill in Anderlecht, Belgium. A catalogue Lempertz Auction 1106: Jan De Cock Collection 26 October 2017 Brussels will be available on site with an exhaustive description of the lots available.

At Office Baroque, with Sculptor Studio for Sale, De Cock will be presenting new sculptures comprising the remaining unused copies of Jan De Cock’s Lempertz auction catalogue. In a manner reminiscent of Marcel Broodthaers’ Pense-Bête from 1964, De Cock will be using the remaining copies of the Lempertz catalogue listing his work, to make sculptures for the exhibition at Office Baroque. These pivotal works will symbolise both the alpha and omega of symbolic value – transparency, representation and memory – will be presented on low marble tables.

Together the two venues combine the three themes that make up the full complexity of De Cock’s recent artistic labour, under the headers Sculpturecommunism, Abstract Capitalism and Sculptor Studio for Sale, questioning the relationship between art, public space, the market, freedom and profit.

Whereas De Cock, with his last show Abstract Capitalism, was investigating the ‘becoming bourgeois’ of revolutionary art practices, in his new exhibition De Cock wishes to appropriate the auction and the principle of the highest bidder, both as a signifier as well as symptom of our cultural values. With this major presentation, De Cock locates a new definition of the Monumental, in building new work on the ruins of former transactions, for example an auction catalogue as a medium to express temporary value.

Important individual exhibitions by De Cock were held at Tate Modern, London; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt; Bozar, Brussels, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden and at MoMA, New York. Works by the artist are held in public collections including Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Tate Modern, London and MoMa, New York.