21 January - 27 February 2010 - GEUKENS & DE VIL ANTWERP
about Ilse D’Hollander (°1968 - +1997)
What can one say or write about the final works by a young painter who in 1997 put an end to her life at the age of twenty-eight? Who during her lifetime had close contacts with Raoul De Keyser, one of her teachers, who had an obvious influence on her work. An artist who was under the spell of the painting medium, of which she wrote: ‘A painting arises out of the convergence of ideas and the act of painting itself’. And: ‘It is painting itself that always remains fundamental; with due regard for the person who is painting. The viewer who turns his gaze on my paintings remains even more fundamental.’ You can dismiss it quickly by talking about ‘epigones’ and thereby consider the matter closed.
But Ilse D’Hollanders’ work cannot be dealt with just like that. It has such a powerful presence, both qualitatively and quantitatively, that one cannot disregard it. Nor, for that matter, would one want to. The canvases she painted between 1995 and 1997 especially constitute a statement in which the main accent lies on both De Keyser’s influence (this is the last time we shall mention this name) and her own drive and personality.
One might refer to ‘lyrical abstraction’ in painting, which is a term people like to use in connection with Ilse D’Hollander’s work, as opposed to geometrical abstraction and abstract expressionism, but that is not the whole story. As far as the ‘lyrical’ is concerned, her work is so markedly controlled and huis clos that this word is not all appropriate. The word abstract also raises questions: not that much recognisable figuration is concealed in these paintings, yet there are nevertheless references to landscapes (or parts of them), to identifiable motifs from, for example, a meadow landscape in Flanders. And even ‘expressionism’ is a bridge too far, once again precisely because of the restrained and economical nature of her work.
D’Hollander’s paintings create a transcendent world with their vertical and horizontal strips, their rigid and flowing lines, brushstrokes and finger marks, greyish and subdued colours, and layers and colours of paint that gleam through the surface from deep down. It is painfully obvious how much D’Hollander needed to suppress her tormented thoughts and to channel them into these small canvases, which look like sublimated moments of tranquillity. In these final works it is as if she has truly emptied herself into her paintings.
But this must also have included plenty of occasions involving ‘the pleasure of painting’. In the way horizontal and vertical bands were painted, sometimes in several colours on top of each other; in the way rigid lines were alternated with a lighter, dancing touch; in the way the colours used were mainly pastel tints, while never giving the impression of conformism or banality.
One explanation lies in the view that Ilse D’Hollander took regarding ‘the character’ in her work. She often painted one coat over another in interacting lines and planes, thereby suggesting a ‘figure’ with an undeniable but barely definable presence. She saw this figure as a character who, she wrote, ‘expresses the reason for his own painted existence. The character tells us something about the painting, while what is painted tells us about the character.’ In this way D’Hollander indicated sublimely what she was essentially engaged in: a fundamental type of painting in which she avoided any form of anecdote and obsessively left the painting hand free to sublimate every piece of work into a fully independent ‘image’ that surrenders totally to the viewer in order to be looked at, interpreted and judged. It seems she took this to such lengths that she utterly effaced herself as an artist.
Marc Ruyters December 2009 Translation Gregory Ball
Prijs Beeldende Kunst 2009 Provincie Oost-Vlaanderen: Stijn Cole en Hannes Van Severen Expo: April 2010 Caermersklooster, Gent
Upcoming Knokke: may-june 2010 : Keith Brumberg, "Skylines", new paintings
Daniel Pitin, 4.March - 17.April 2010 Peter De Meyer, 29. April - 12 June 2010
Upcoming Antwerpen
21 January - 27 February 2010Ilse D'Hollander
11 March - 17 April 2010 Daniel Pitin
29 April - 12 June 2010 Peter De Meyer
9 September - 9 October 2010 Ruben Bellinkx
21 October - 27 November 2010 Michaël De Kok
2011 Sofie Muller
2011 Bert De Beul
Curator: Jan Van Woensel Assistant Curator: Vanessa Albury
The Chelsea Art Museum, Home of the Miotte Foundation, is pleased to present the group exhibition UN-SCR-1325, which brings together the works of eight Belgian artists with the works of eight American artists. Referencing the United Nations Social Security Resolution 1325, the exhibition focuses on the position of women in global and local sociopolitical contexts. The artworks in the show critically address topics such as religion, sex, identity, trauma and war.
UN-SCR-1325 is the first resolution ever passed by the Security Council that specifically addresses the impact of war on women and women's contributions to conflict resolution and sustainable peace. The exhibition acknowledges the great importance and value of this resolution. Instead of being illustrations of a political declaration, the artworks examine critical moments of social and psychological defect and disruption. Contrary to portraying women as victims, the artists of the exhibition present works that expose the counter effects of negligence, discrimination and intolerance towards women. Present and past occasions explored in this exhibition include the California Gold Rush, 9/11, the Iraq War, racial issues, domestic violence and sexism in the religious sector. As a running thread through the exhibition, the artists of UN-SCR-1325 prove how throughout history women, in fact, all people have stood up against their oppressors. UN-SCR-1325 is therefore also an exhibition about resistance and hope.
Many of the artworks presented in the exhibition, find their inspiration in concrete time and space. From the staged repetition of a random action in the work of Joëlle Tuerlinckx, the notions of space and isolation in the work of Sofie Muller to the relational complexity between "you" and "me" in Vanessa Albury's work and the handcrafted survival kit of collaborators Kathleen Hanna and Becca Albee; these works reveal how the artists reflect upon the here and now. The exhibition confronts the viewer with physicality, femininity, transgression and action. "If women suffer the impact of conflict disproportionately, they are also the key to the solution of conflict", said former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2002. The exhibition UN-SCR-1325 demonstrates how change always finds its origin in a situation of conflict. Through this exhibition we are invited to consciously think about how change can be suggested, accepted and successfully integrated in our transient societies. [JVW]
The exhibition UN-SCR-1325 is funded by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium and appreciates the support of the Belgian Permanent Mission at the UN, the Consulate General of Belgium in New York, The Armory Show, Capitalatwork, Yasmine Geukens and Marie-Paule De Vil, and Office Jan Van Woensel.
Contemporary Art Gallery - Antwerp / Knokke-Zoute - Belgium - current exhibition:Ilse D'Hollander - GEUKENS & DE VIL - Contemporary Art Gallery - Antwerp/Knokke - Belgium - Pourbusstraat 19 - 2000 Antwerpen Belgium - artists of the gallery: Carl Andre - Ruben Bellinkx - Keith Brumberg - Stijn Cole - Denmark - Bert De Beul - Philippe De Gobert - Peter De Meyer - José Manuel Fors - Andrian Ghenie - Herbert Hanak - Renaat Ivens - Peter Lindbergh - Sofie Muller - Jaromír Novotný - Michaël De Kok - Daniel Pitin - Serban Savu - Toirac - Geukens DeVil Art Gallery - Carl Andre - Contemporary Art Gallery - current exhibition: Ilse D'Hollander - webdesign Seppe Slabbinck
UN-SCR-1325 We are proud to announce that the exhibition Un-SCR-1325 will be on show at the Chelsea Art Museum, 556W 22nd street, NY.Opening 5. March 2009. From 4 - 31 March 2009 the exhibition will be part of the official VIP-Prorgam of the Armory Show. 10 september - 10 october 2009 Meira & Toirac"Orbis. Homage to Walker Evans"2009
UN-SCR-1325We are proud to announce that the exhibition Un-SCR-1325 will be on show at the Chelsea Art Museum, 556W 22nd street, NY.Opening 5. March 2009. From 4 - 31 March 2009 the exhibition will be part of the official VIP-Prorgam of the Armory Show.
GEUKENS & DEVIL Contemporary Arthttp://www.geukensdevil.com
