Wim Delvoye: Integrating Gothic Intricacy into Contemporary Machinery

Wim Delvoye is a neo-conceptual artist known for his shocking projects such as tattooing on pigs. He even installed a digestive machine called Cloaca that turns food into feces. While growing up in Wervik, Belgium, he was fascinated by the Roman Catholic architecture that surrounded him. This fascination later led to his Gothic works which bring the delicate workmanship of Gothic architecture and today’s coarse machinery. As for his mediums, he often prevers lazer-cut stainless steel, corten steel, or nickeled bronze.

Here are some of Delvoye’s most amazing Gothic works.

Dump Truck by Wim Delvoye

Dump Truck by Wim Delvoye
Dump Truck by Wim Delvoye
Dump Truck by Wim Delvoye
Dump Truck by Wim Delvoye

D11, A Bulldozer Sculpture

D11

Nautilus in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, 2014, Moscow

Nautilus in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, 2014, Moscow
Nautilus in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, 2014, Moscow
Nautilus in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, 2014, Moscow
Nautilus in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, 2014, Moscow

The Gothic Window Frame Series Called “Nine Muses” by Wim Delvoye

While filling the Gothic window frames, Delvoye preferred to use x-ray photographs instead of stained glass. Moreover, these x-ray scans belonged to his friends who painted themselves with barium and perform sexual acts in medical x-ray clinics.

Gothic Window Frames by Wim Delvoye
Erato, 2001-2002
Gothic Window Frames by Wim Delvoye
Euterpe, 2001-2002
Gothic Window Frames by Wim Delvoye
Melpomene, 2001-2002
Gothic Window Frames by Wim Delvoye
Polyhymnia, 2001-2002

Concrete Mixer (Scale Model)

Concrete Mixer
Concrete Mixer

Suppo, 2010

Suppo by Wim Delvoye
Suppo
Suppo