Wax Latex Mud #2, 29 April 2010, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam.

Wax Latex Mud by Dirk Jan Jager happened over three different days: on the first
day, the artist was stripped of his suit, methodically cut by his collaborators, after
which he was completely hair waxed; on the second day he was covered in latex,
that was then peeled off and, on the third day, he was covered in clay, that was also
peeled off, while the material residues of these actions were lain respectively on
three canvases. As a repeated action, taking place at the same time, in consecutive
days and with specific substances, it gains the dimension of a ritual, in this case, of
‘dismemberment’. The symbolic substitution of the all bodily matter is certified, in
concrete terms, by the exhibition of its ‘remnants’, while the new body shows the
freshness, softness and splendour of the new man.

Performance: Dirk Jan Jager
Concept development: Dirk Jan Jager & Simon Ferdinando
Assistants: Elke Veltman, Mariëlle Videler
Mud sculptor: Veridiana Zurita
Text: Suzana Vaz
Photo: Thomas Lenden