Contemporary art with knightly ideals"From Fontana to Fabre: the artist/knight traverses contemporary art history. He serves a noble ideal and goes in search of its image, and of meaning. During his triumphant campaigns, he moves through different dimensions and transcends the actual reality thanks to his inner experiences. He is the warrior of the future. The futuristic knight carries ‘utopian weapons’: explosive but harmless, neutralised by the panorama of inspiration and the preservation of the soul."— Joanna De VosThe knight is an archetypal symbol that speaks to everyone’s imagination. In The Artist/Knight, the book that accompanies the international group exhibitionat Gaasbeek Castle, art historian Joanna De Vos deconstructs the historical, cultural and religious significance of the knight and examines which different aspects can be found in contemporary art. In words and images, she argues that modern and contemporary artists are the heirs of knightly ideals.The Artist/Knight is a tribute to the poetic artist/knight who gallantly gallops forth from the vestiges of the chivalrous era. The tragic-heroic warrior who falls and arises, defeats, rescues, defends, protects, searches, enquires and who, filled with anticipation, is permanently occupied.The work of some fifty artists around themes such as the self-portrait of the artist as a knight, literal and figurative armour, the battle, chess and jousting, humanist commitment, and the triumph over time is brought together.With work by Marina Abramović, Giorgio de Chirico, Robert Devriendt, Tracey Emin, Jan Fabre, Damien Hirst, Wassily Kandinsky, Kris Martin, Jonathan Meese, Pablo Picasso and Andy Wauman.Texts by Joanna De Vos, Larry List and Melania Rossi.Book accompanying the exhibition of the same name at Gaasbeek Castle, from 11 July until 5 November 2017.