Borremans's work was first exhibited in the mid-1990s in Belgium and soon after began to be included in group exhibitions in Europe and the United States. Like earlier twentieth-century Belgian artists René Magritte and Marcel Broodthaers, Borremans juxtaposes picture and text, deepening the enigmatic character of the image. His work lurks at the edge of Surrealism; scale and meaning are mysterious and uncertain. Time seems suspended and undefined, although the style and dress of his figures sometimes nostalgically evoke the 1940s and 1950s.
In Manufacturers of Constellation women inscribe a "mattress soaked with tears" with texts. Close inspection reveals the texts to be lyrics of a pop song about broken hearts and lost loves: "Don’t let me be the last to know / Don't just let it show / I need to hear you say you love me all the way / Don't hold back just let it go." The figures themselves are unstable, dissolving; the mattress is stained and streaked. Allegories are suggested, but resolved interpretation is frustrated.
The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA Highlights since 1980, New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2007, p. 207.
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