Klaas Rommelaere, Merksen, 2023 (From the series Johnny) courtesy the artist and Made van Krimpen gallery
Since galleries’ profile are mainly from Netherlands and Belgium, my selection is focused on Northern European participants. This 4th edition gains legitimacy with highly curated stands and numerous duo or solo presentations.
Klaas Rommelaere, Madé van Krimpen (Amsterdam)
Klaas Rommelaere (born in 1986, Roeselare, Belgium) creates intricately embroidered tapestries and embroidered sculptures that bridge the personal and the collective. His work narrates his lived experiences and is filled with familiar images and symbols representing both real and imagined human connections. Each piece is a labor of time and love, emphasizing the significance of the human connection to the creation and consumption of art.
At Art antwerpen he presents work from his series Johnny.
These works are a response to the documentary series “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” by Adam Curtis and the film “Naked” by Mike Leigh, exploring themes such as individualism, collectivism, conspiracy theories, national myths, and artificial intelligence.
In duo show with Ahmad Mallah
Ria Verhaeghe, Hibiscus, Syracus 8, 2017 courtesy the artist & Richard Saltoun
Ria Verhaeghe, Richard Saltoun (London)
Solo booth dedicated to Belgian artist Ria Verhaeghe (b. 1950). The highlight of our presentation will be new paintings from Verhaeghe’s ongoing Verticals series, which were recently presented at SANT2024, Cultuur Centrum Brugges, and previously at the Museum of Fine Arts in Gent in 2017. Drawing on Verhaeghe’s collection of some 60,000 cataloged newspaper photographs and clippings entitled Provisoria, this series of paintings incorporate images of dead or ‘horizontal’ bodies, giving them new life by turning them into Verticals. Embedded within Verhaeghe’s uniquely composed matrix of meaning and narrative, the figures thus appear as ethereal, abstracted forms that dance and float against striking backgrounds layered with gold leaf.
Koos Buster, DE OPBOUW 02 courtesy the artist, Vriend van Bavink
Koos Buster, Gallery Vriend van Bavink (Amsterdam)
A humble water tank, a camera, a cleaning cart, a spray cleaner, a book, a slush puppy, or a fire extinguisher, Koos Buster elevates it to an iconic and artistic level. His distinctive, colorful style highlights the importance of happy imperfections. What Koos Buster appreciates about ceramics is its versatility. Ceramics are both precious and historically rich. He loves the fragile nature of the material: it is durable and will last indefinitely if left untouched, but it can break easily—something that serves as a metaphor for many aspects of life.
My favourite for Best Booth Prize but didn’t win !
Bruno V Roels, Fifty One Gallery (Antwerp)
Photography has a strong presence this year.
The booth is organized as a waiting room to paradise !
Roels considers the act of printing (turning a photograph into a tangible object) as important as the act of photographing itself. He photographs almost nonstop, documenting his entire life, building a sizable archive. In his dark room he uses that archive to explore the analogue photographic process. Rather than trying to make ‘the perfect gelatin silver print’ he assumes that all prints are perfect and gives all variations equal attention.
He’s looking for poetry, and photographic truth, in sequences and fluctuations. Details in his photographs may become lead motives in bigger compositions, and obvious subject matter is reduced to abstract information through numerous reiterations.
Fia Cielen, DMW Gllery (Antwerp)
Fia Cielen makes drawings, sculptures, installations and monumental digital prints. An important recurring aspect in her work is metamorphosis. Cielen likes to introduce a natural element in the work that goes beyond her control, in an attempt to achieve a re-enchantment of a disenchanted world.
The artist is particularly attracted by in-between states, transitory zones and the uncanny, which becomes evident especially in her drawings. They are populated by creatures that exist on the threshold between the human, the animal, and the elemental; beings on the verge of their next materialisation. An important source of inspiration are masks – carnival masks, old folklore and ritual masks, ritual animal disguises. Masquerade as something that is ingrained in European culture, originating from a time before the christening of Europe, a remnant of times when the wild and magical were still part of daily life.
Hiding one’s face behind a mask is also a fitting metaphor for our modern culture, with its thin layer of civilization, the wildness brewing underneath.
The artist is currently having an exhibition et MHKA Museum, Antwerp, “Carnival of Souls”.
In duo show with Kaspar Dejong.
Ilke Cop, The Fool in the House VI, courtesy the artist & Tatiana Pieters
Ilke Cop, TATJANA PIETERS (Ghent)
After her acclaimed solo exhibition Hardcore / Softspore at TATJANA PIETERS in the summer of 2024, Cop once again presents colourful, large-scale works that reflect a resolutely new perspective on the artist and their role in society. The title of the new series, The Fool in the House, is a reference to Coventry Patmore’s 1854 poem The Angel in the House, and the essay of the same name by Virginia Woolf, who anticipated the destructive critique of the idealization of the obedient and subordinate woman. In the works, Cop questions the role of the artist as both entertainer and critic. The fool is often a figure on the margins of society, thus enjoying a unique privilege of delivering criticism to those in power. Cop asks how the contemporary artist can take up this position in a polarized world in times of climate crisis and war.
For these new works, the artist uses soft pastel, a medium originally used for still lifes and sentimental paintings on a small scale. Here, Cop blows the works up to life-size or larger-than-life depictions of the artist herself. She pairs these with smaller works that serve as talismans accompanying the larger images. More than ever, we see the hand of the artist in the hatching and scribbles with pastel. In doing so, Cop explicitly references the large pastel works of Paula Rego and the photography of Cindy Sherman, work in which the role of the female artist is also central.
Best Booth Prize goes to Harlesden High Street + Season 4 Episode 6 presenting the artists Alex Farrar and Benjamin Francis. They received a prize of 3,000 euros on Thursday.
With the support of Delen Private Bank et Banque Van Breda
IN THE CITY : a very appealing scene !
Don’t miss Cindy Sherman show at FoMu (link to my interviews with the curators).
The MoMu with the fascinating show « Mascarades, Make up & Ensor » (link to) revealing coquetry, seduction, deception and the transient, from past time to present.
Practical Infos :
ART ANTWERP 4th edition
Jan van Rijswijcklaan 191
2020 Antwerp
OPENING DAY
Thursday 12 December 2024
Preview | 11am – 4pm
Vernissage | 4pm – 9pm
PUBLIC DAYS | 11am – 7pm
Friday 13 December 2024
Saturday 14 December 2024
Sunday 15 December 2024
TICKETS
Standard
20€