Fondazione Prada

NADA

THIERRY DE CORDIER

Fondazione Prada presents the monographic exhibition "NADA," uniquely created by the Belgian artist Thierry De Cordier for the three spaces of the Cisterna at its Milan venue. This exhibition features ten large-scale paintings from the NADA series, created between 1999 and 2025. The initial works in this series emerged from the artist's explicit desire to erase the image of the crucifixion. The resulting pieces transcend negative painting and aim to delve into, as the artist puts it, the 'grandeur of nothing.' De Cordier recalls, "My first black painting (which is now destroyed) stemmed from the intention to abolish the image of Christ on the Cross in a demonstrative manner. My focus was not to create a remarkable painting, but to symbolically annihilate a deeply entrenched Christian image. This was my sole aim at that time. While reading a biography of the Spanish mystic Saint John of the Cross, I discovered a passage stating, 'No emphasis, but absolute rigor. The search for the NADA (Nothing) of the Cross; the concern for the only thing necessary...' This realization profoundly enhanced the meaning of these paintings, liberating them from restrictive interpretations. Freed from their original negation, they evolved towards the pinnacle of painting, encapsulated in sublimity." De Cordier’s works are characterized by their almost monochromatic palette, yet they cannot be strictly classified as merely abstract or conceptual. As indicated by the series title, they represent a black pictorial space that invites contemplation of nothingness. Notably, NADA also appears in some paintings in the place where the historical initials INRI (Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum, Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews) were affixed to the Cross, a symbol represented by various artists in their crucifixion depictions. Exhibiting these ten NADA series works in the Cisterna is intentional; the building features three vertically extending exhibition rooms lit by large windows, giving the space a ecclesiastical feel. Each room's design evokes an impression of a monumental triptych with the side doors open, where the large paintings are centrally hung, and the lateral structures include niches for smaller pieces. In front of the colossal canvas Gran Nada (2007-2012), situated in the central room of the Cisterna, a bench invites observers to reflect and acknowledge the essence of the entire installation.