“Review/ Preview” at Art Antwerp
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Louise Delanghe (b.1994) Based in Ostend, a graduate of KASK, Gent, who obtained her Master in Fine Arts with a specialization in graphic design, is a distinctive presence in the contemporary art scene.
Delanghe, whose artistic trajectory has been marked by recognition such as the Ronse Drawing Prize in 2019 and solo exhibitions at 10n in Brussels, LLS Paleis and Pizza Gallery in Antwerp, engages in a continual process of self-reinvention, navigating the intricate paths and loopholes of art history. Her artistic practice seamlessly integrates classical oil painting techniques with more contemporary approaches, such as the use of household paint.
Delanghe's work is characterized by a crystallized focus on artistic play, allowing her to delve into themes spanning boundless humanism, contemporary pop culture, and the intersection of the bold and the banal. Delanghe's practice invites a dynamic dialogue between tradition and innovation, creating a space where the echoes of art history converge with the pulsating rhythms of the present. Her every gesture and moment of decision is so perceptible in her paintings; you feel the elbow sway, the brush pull. The painter balances a visual limbo using layers and re- composed figures that seem to abstract their own stories.
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Maya Strobbe (b. 1995) creates drawings, installations, performances, and conceptual art books. Themes like archives, collections, rules, daily life, repetition, social norms, and the (waste of) time recurrently appear in her work. Strobbe not only engages in her personal artistic endeavors but also runs Ramsdam Books, focusing on conceptual artist books, primarily her own creations.
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Jonas Dehnen (b. 1992) practice is stubbornly devoted to traversing the jaded landscape of painterly tropes and conventions. To him, the medium of painting feels like treacherous ground, despite the fact that it’s long been charted. Dehnen interrogates the way in which contemporary paintings and art objects in general performatively parade their purported authenticity.
Each work carefully follows its predecessors, in a slow and iterative picture-making process, in which visual themes grow and develop organically. This primarily plays out in paintings, drawings, and occasionally in three-dimensional work. Motifs drawn from literature intermingle with visual markers of identity. This might include pub signs, carnival floats, vernacular architecture, folk paintings and other elements of visual patois. These undergo a subjective examination led by the (im-)possibilities and the ‘cultural memory’ of the material and of matter itself.
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Michiel Ceulers (b. 1986) Michiel Ceulers, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, he swiftly ascended to become one of the youngest residents at Amsterdam's prestigious Rijksakademie. Awarded the Prix Jeune Peinture and honored with the Gaverprijs for contemporary painting. His canvases transcend traditional boundaries, gaining prominence in galleries and fairs across Europe and the United States.
Michiel Ceulers' artistic process is an intricate dance between intention and spontaneity, challenging the conventional boundaries of painting. Beginning with unconventional materials such as discarded wood, old textiles, cardboard, and styrofoam, he constructs his own canvases, turning overlooked objects into potential art pieces. His paintings often emerge from a dialogue with the found materials, creating a tactile and sculptural quality.
Working horizontally on the floor, Ceulers embraces a fearless approach, liberating himself from the constraints of a blank canvas. The process involves experimentation, allowing accidental elements like splatters, drips, and imperfections to influence the final composition. Ceulers navigates a fine line between chaos and control, welcoming the unexpected while maintaining a keen artistic sensibility.
With international recognition, Ceulers has exhibited in renowned institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, MUHKA, and Kunstmuseum Stuttgart. His works, residing in collections like Kunstmuseum Den Haag and SMAK, challenge conventions and beckon viewers to engage in the vibrant, authentic world of his art.
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Willem De Haan (b. 1996, NL) challenges and subverts socially conditioned and politically determined rules in everyday locations. His works, with suggestive sculptural interventions, directly influence daily situations, referencing the impact of props on fictional scenarios in film and theater. De Haan's projects, conceived and realized across Europe, aim to produce iconic visual scenarios with a focus on local impact and timeless designs.
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Bert Huyge (b. 1989) recognized as an emerging artist from Belgium, draws inspiration from the YBA movement of the 1990s. Born in 1989, Huyge's work reflects the influence of the Young British Artists.
Huyghe's artistic journey transcends conventional boundaries, aiming to grasp the core of archetypal narratives. With a thoughtful and nuanced approach, he navigates the intricate layers of these fundamental symbols. His work beckons viewers into a contemplative realm, prompting reflection on the timeless threads that connect archetypes to the collective human consciousness.
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Karel Thienpont (b. 1973) challenges the art world with his unconventional paintings, embracing a playful naivety reminiscent of CoBrA and Naïve Art traditions. Thienpont, based in Etikhove, Belgium, infuses his work with unparalleled imagination.
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Veronika Bezdenejnykh (b. 1990, Almaty) is a Kazakh artist residing in Gent. Her work, spanning disciplines from digital to painting and performance, explores the intersection of the geometrical, philosophy, and ottoman art history. She graduated 2015 with a master’s degree in painting at KASK in Gent. In 2015 Bezdenejnykh, Alec Nierinck and Charlotte Kalkman also founded the platform To Be Antwerp, for freshly graduated master students.
She navigates the spectrum between abstraction and figuration, infusing her works with vibrant color. Her paintings, a playground of personal musings and memories, defy formal rules, embracing artistic freedom. Inspired by childhood recollections and minimalist influences, Veronika explores themes of domesticity and familial life.
Veronika views painting as communication, a way to capture the ineffable. The process mirrors music, combining recognizable elements with digital tools for speed and originality.
Her art serves as both a perfect universe and attempts to grasp an elusive essence. It acts as a portal to memories, desires, and aesthetics. Beyond narrative coherence, her paintings inquire into the boundaries of perception, utilizing diverse techniques. Veronika invites viewers into a space that addresses emotional burdens, offering solace and connection.
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Leendert Van Accoleyen (b. 1991, Aalst) reaches for the impossible in his art, defying gravity with constructions that elevate large and heavy objects into the air. His work, marked by the tension between human vulnerability and the grandiosity of his creations, taps into the strength of nature, akin to the delicate balance observed in a honeybee's interaction with flowers.
Leendert Van Accoleyen is an artist whose artistic practice cannot be separated from his personal life. He creates sculptural installations using various materials such as reclaimed wood, bricks, and metal, among others. He lived a nomadic lifestyle, often residing in his car, on a boat, or in his studio. Now he builds himself a new studio on the countryside.
Collaboration is a key element of Van Accoleyen's practice, and he works closely with the people he cares most about, often relying on their help and generosity to realize his ideas. His work represents a critical train of thought that examines common understandings of socio-spatial realities. Van Accoleyen's work has been exhibited in galleries and public spaces in Belgium and beyond, and he has received several awards and grants for his practice. His work is part of the collection of the Muhka and private collections.
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Meriton Maloku (b. 1989), born in Kosovo and based in Antwerp, is a multidisciplinary artist with a master's degree in printmaking. His work explores diverse aspects of daily life, politics, philosophy, and art history, translating the interplay between the banal and the fundamental into artworks exhibited across Europe, Asia, and the US. Maloku is a recipient of the Gjon Mili Prize (2015) and the Young Artists Award in Kosovo (2017).
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Victoria Palacios (b.1992) born in France, studied at Erg in Brussels. Other halve of the music duo Alto Fuero. She currently lives and works in Brussels. As a multidisciplinary artist, she navigates between various mediums and practices. Committed to establishing connections between autonomous images, Palacios explores the affinities that her individual works share with each other. Painting on pocketbooks and canvases (even on slices of bread), Victoria Palacios builds a rich lexicon of styles and motifs, emphasizing the immersive nature of painted material.
Through performances, scenographies, paintings, and sound works, she personalizes her creations by playing with them, engaging them in dialogue. Her compositions, featuring grotesque and theatrical characters that exaggerate attitudes and textures, transform into fantastical figures. In Palacios's work, the painting is rarely singular; parameters and symbols recur as playful nods and winks.
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Mariami Tsotadze (b.1999) was born in Tbilisi, Georgia. She currently resides and works in Antwerp. Mariami embarked on her painting journey just a few years ago. Her practice serves as a fertile ground filled with setbacks, as well as growth and development. Tsotadze's works are humorous, surreal, and feminist layered pieces that invite the viewer to enter a realm of speculation and absurdity.
Her paintings always originate from a sketch or drawing, often created during her daily train rides. These drawings play a fundamental role in expanding and developing her paintings. The viewer is gradually but poignantly guided into a worldview where exploration, particularly the narrative, plays a crucial role. She invites us into the depths of her flower garden.
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Dieter Durinck (b. 1983) is a visual artist, designer, and publisher based in Gent. Having showcased his works at renowned venues such as Kunsthal Gent, LLS Paleis, Museum M, and now represented by Pizza Gallery, Durinck's practice spans various media. His paintings often originate from digital designs, skillfully combining painting and screen/uv printing. Durinck's pieces delve into the intersection of different techniques, using a visual language inspired by street iconography, post-industrialism and advertising imagery.
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Rufus Michielsen (b.1982) Resides and operates in Antwerp, Belgium. His oeuvre is equally informed by early modernist and Dadaist artists, Situationism, and CoBrA, as it is by the realms of graffiti, video games, and underground cartoons. This amalgamation serves as a touchstone for Michielsen's multifaceted expressions across various mediums: canvases adorned with paint or drawings etched onto paper, sculpture, and his roots as a graffiti artist.
His creations exist within the liminal space between abstraction and figuration. Michielsen revels in a playful exploration of anthropomorphism within the abstract forms that emerge from the strokes of paint. Often, he strives to encapsulate the sensation of a kind of sensory overload, akin to the experience of surfing the internet or strolling down the street. In his drawings, he endeavors to unearth a particular poetry inherent in that process.
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Tom Hallet (b. 1990) engages in a multidisciplinary practice, primarily focused on drawings and sculptures. His work takes the form of visual letters to queer key figures, challenging dominant historical narratives. Hallet, one of the founders of SOIL Collective, has recently exhibited his work at various venues, including Brussels Gallery Weekend, Museum M, Wiels and Muhka.
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