Magdalene Odundo @ Xavier Hufkens, Brussels - Ceramic Vessels and a Large-Scale Glass Installation

Magdalene Odundo

Xavier Hufkens, Brussels

13 November 2025 —​ 24 January 2026

Xavier Hufkens presents Kenyan-born British artist Magdalene Odundo’s first exhibition at the gallery. Featuring a new body of ceramic vessels and the large-scale glass installation Transition II (2014), the exhibition showcases the two central disciplines that shape her artistic practice.

At the heart of the exhibition is a recent series of ceramic vessels, a form that has been a cornerstone of Odundo’s practice for nearly five decades. These vessels, refined in shape and rich in symbolism, draw inspiration from a wide array of global ceramic traditions—African, European, Asian, and Indigenous American – as by the human body, which Magdalene Odundo likewise regards as a vessel. Her work carries a distinct anthropomorphic presence: gestures, physical states and bodily movements often serve as starting points for a vessel’s form, silhouette, proportion or balance. As one of the oldest and most universal of human-made objects, vessels transcend time, geography and culture. Moreover, they are rich with dualities: inside and outside, fullness and emptiness, fragility and strength. These oppositions echo the deeper conceptual themes in the artist’s oeuvre, such as transition, identity and cultural hybridity. For Magdalene Odundo, the vessel is more than a physical object. It is an archetypal and elemental form through which to articulate relationships – between materials, histories, cultures and individuals.

The making of each vessel is a laborious and intensely physical act. Working alone, Magdalene Odundo hand-builds her vessels using coiling techniques before meticulously burnishing their surfaces. The distinctive colours – typically deep terracotta and lustrous black – emerge from a controlled firing process. This slow, embodied method underscores the intimate relationship between maker and material. In Odundo’s practice, the vessel is not a static object, but a living entity. Left unglazed, the works retain a subtle porosity, enhancing their sense of life and allowing them, quite literally, to "breathe."

Also on view is Transition II (2014), a large-scale installation comprising 1001 suspended glass vessels. Each vessel is individually mouth-blown yet they are united by a formal coherence that balances repetition and variation. In contrast to Odundo’s ceramic practice, which is a solitary activity, glass-blowing is a collective endeavour. The vessels in Transition II are inspired by an ancient Egyptian glass earplug in the Petrie Museum in London, a reflection of Odundo’s ongoing engagement with historical forms and cross-cultural material references. The resulting objects appear to hover in space: weightless and precarious; they are ‘hanging by a thread’. Glass, like clay, is an ancient and elemental medium, both ubiquitous and fragile, that is transformed by fire. In a phenomenon known as the ‘melt memory effect’, it retains information about its previous crystalline structure, even after heating above its glass transition temperature. These qualities are central to Transition II, and resonate with broader themes in Odundo’s practice.

The installation draws visual and conceptual parallels with a murmuration – a phenomenon in which large flocks of starlings move in coordinated, shape-shifting formations. Within this work, each glass shape maintains its singularity while simultaneously contributing to an energetic, collective rhythm. In an era increasingly marked by fragmentation and estrangement, Transition II speaks of gathering and mutual recognition, whereby uniqueness and difference contribute to a dynamic whole.

Magdalene A N Odundo (b. 1950) received her initial training as a graphic artist in Kenya before moving to the UK in 1971. She studied at the Cambridge School of Art (now Anglia Ruskin University), the University for the Creative Arts and the Royal College of Art. In 2018, Magdalene Odundo was appointed Chancellor of the University for Creative Arts (UCA) and was made a Dame in the Queen’s New Year Honours list in 2020. She has been the subject of major solo exhibitions at Houghton Hall, Norfolk, England (2024); the Gardiner Museum, Toronto, Canada (2023-2024); The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield, England and Sainsbury Centre, Norwich, England (2019); The High Museum of Art, Atlanta GA, USA (2017); British Council, Nairobi, Kenya (2005); Blackwell House, Bowness-on-Windermere, England (2001); The National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian, Washington D.C., USA (1995); Stedelijk Museum Voor Hedendaagse Kunst, s’Hertogenbosch, Netherlands (1994); Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany; and Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe, Germany (1992).

XAVIER HUFKENS

6 rue St-Georges | St-Jorisstraat, 1050 Brussels

www.xavierhufkens.com

Resistance. The Power of the Image @ SMAK Gand - Exposition dans le cadre de EUROPALIA ESPAÑA

Resistance. The Power of the Image 

EUROPALIA ESPAÑA

S.M.A.K. Gand

29 novembre 2025 - 8 mars 2026

Avelino Sala

'4,33 minutes of silence', 2021

Film still 

© Avelino Sala

Dans le cadre d’EUROPALIA ESPAÑA, S.M.A.K. présente l’exposition collective Resistance. The Power of the Image, dans laquelle vingt artistes espagnols explorent le pouvoir de l’image dans la lutte pour la défense des valeurs démocratiques.

Artistes participants :  Carlos Aires, Xavier Arenós, Pilar Aymerich, Alán Carrasco, Colita, Lúa Coderch, Eli Cortiñas, Daniel G. Andujar, Ana García Pineda, Eulàlia Grau, Núria Güell, Agustín Ibarrola, José Ortega, Joan Rabascall, Josep Renau, María Ruido,  Avelino Sala, Fernando Sánchez Castillo, Diego del Pozo Barriuso, Darío Villalba 

L’exposition étudie comment, à compter de l’avènement de la Deuxième République (1931-1939) – qui sera renversée pendant la Guerre d’Espagne –, les artistes espagnols ont utilisé l’art comme moyen de protestation, pour revendiquer de nouveaux droits et mettre en avant des situations intolérables. Le pavillon espagnol à l’Exposition universelle de Paris en 1937 a joué un rôle crucial dans ce contexte. La dénonciation des atrocités de la guerre civile espagnole a trouvé là une plateforme internationale où s’exprimer sous les formes artistiques les plus diverses. C’est à cette occasion que Picasso a peint son tableau Guernica, qui est aujourd’hui encore le symbole de la résistance et du rôle que l’art peut jouer dans celle-ci.

L’exposition invite les visiteurs à jeter un regard neuf sur le sens à donner à la démocratie, sur sa raison d’être et sur les défis qu’elle est amenée à relever. Dans le même temps, elle ouvre la voie à une réflexion critique sur la façon dont nous formons notre identité en tant que société. 

Augustin Ibarralo 

Paisajes de Euskadi series, ca. 1970-1979

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía

© Augustin Ibarralo

Courtesy Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía

Augustin Ibarralo 

Paisajes de Euskadi series, ca. 1970-1979

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía

© Augustin Ibarralo

Courtesy Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía

Resistance. The Power of the Image se concentre sur deux moments importants du processus de démocratisation de l’Espagne, au cours desquels l’art s’est manifesté en tant qu’instrument politique. D’une part les années 1970, période de l’ultime opposition à la dictature de Franco (1939-1975) et de la transition vers la démocratie. 

Ana García Pineda 

‘La Curva del Olvido [The curve of Forgetting]’, 2015

Film still

© Ana Garcia Pineda 

Xavier Arenós

Teorética del pan (El pueblo español tiene 

un camino que conduce a una estrella), 2019

© Xavier Arenós. Courtesy of the artist

L'exposition porte ensuite sur ces dix dernières années (2015-2025), marquées par une nouvelle vague de protestation initiée par l’Espagne – avec notamment le mouvement des Indignados — en réaction contre la crise bancaire et immobilière et plus largement contre l’atteinte aux principes mêmes de la démocratie. Dans le contexte actuel, les artistes espagnols invités poursuivent le dialogue visuel avec des œuvres qui, à travers divers médias et des techniques variées, abordent toutes sortes de formes d’injustice. Ils prennent la relève de ceux qui veulent se faire entendre – une voix qui dénonce la violence structurelle et révèle des histoires oubliées. Dans le même temps, ils s’interrogent sur les modes d’expression de la protestation : par de nouveaux langages visuels, par l’opposition silencieuse ou par le remaniement d’images existantes.

Chaque oeuvre soulève des questions à propos de l’identité collective, et fait le lien entre le passé et les thèmes sociétaux pressants d’aujourd’hui.

Dans le cadre de EUROPALIA ESPAÑA

Commissaires de l’exposition : Marta Ramos-Yzquierdo et Sam Steverlynck 

S.M.A.K

Jan Hoetplein 1, 9000 Gand

www.smak.be

Aziz Hazara: Bow Echo @ SMAK Gand - Installation vidéo sur cinq écrans géants

Aziz Hazara: Bow Echo 

S.M.A.K. Gand

29 novembre 2025 – 3 mai 2026

Aziz Hazara 

Bow Echo, 2019 

Collection S.M.A.K

Bow Echo est une puissante installation vidéo en cinq parties de l’artiste afghan Aziz Hazara. Depuis sa donation à S.M.A.K. en 2022, l’oeuvre est exposée pour la première fois dans le musée.

L’installation Bow Echo (2019) est composée de cinq écrans géants sur lesquels on voit cinq jeunes garçons qui affrontent un vent violent pour escalader un gros rocher. Une fois arrivés au sommet, ils jouent presque solennellement du kazoo, un petit instrument à vent qui produit un son nasillard. Le contraste entre la rigueur des conditions climatiques sur le haut plateau près de Kaboul et le maigre son du kazoo est une métaphore poétique de l’âpre situation de guerre qui règne en Afghanistan. 

Aziz Hazara dévoile les mécanismes du pouvoir sous-jacents qui sont à l’œuvre et montre comment une population traumatisée tente de s’accommoder du conflit et de l’oppression. Dans ce contexte, les notes qui sortent du kazoo résonnent comme une bande son ténue et macabre au-dessus d’un territoire occupé et en même temps comme un puissant appel à l’expression individuelle, l’espoir et la vie. 

AZIZ HAZARA (né en 1992, Wardak, Afghanistan) vit et travaille à Kaboul et à Berlin. À travers son art – dans lequel il combine photographie, vidéo, son, langages de programmation, texte et installations multimédias –, il étudie des thèmes tels que l’identité, le souvenir, les archives, le conflit, l’occupation et la migration, invariablement dans une perspective plus large, à la fois géopolitique et critique envers le pouvoir.

S.M.A.K

Jan Hoetplein 1, 9000 Gand

www.smak.be

McArthur Binion @ Xavier Hufkens, Brussels - "Rawness Dancing:With Intellect" Exhibition Curated by Anne Pontégnie

McArthur Binion

Rawness Dancing:With Intellect

Xavier Hufkens, Brussels

16 January — ​8 March 2025

Rawness Dancing:With Intellect is an exhibition dedicated to the pioneering work of American artist McArthur Binion (b. 1946, Mississippi). Curated by Anne Pontégnie, it showcases the development of Binion’s work over the course of the last 15 years. Different series are brought together for the first time, divided into three themes across three floors. Highlights include a rare early work from 1985, together with a series of DNA works, the never previously exhibited Haints series (2014) and a group of six new Visual:Ear paintings (2023-24). McArthur Binion’s work blends elements of minimalism and conceptualism with autobiographical and cultural narratives, resulting in paintings and drawings that are both visually compelling and emotionally resonant. Over the years, his art has evolved through changes in technique, theme, and the exploration of personal and historical memory. The title alludes to the harmony between emotional and physical labour, as described by the artist: “my intellect and rawness are dancing together”.

The exhibition opens with McArthur Binion’s latest paintings in the Visual:Ear series, a tribute to Jazz records of particular significance to the artist. The series comprises of 12 paintings in total, half of which are exhibited here for the first time. The first room includes, for example, Visual: Ear (Maestro Duke), a tribute to Duke Ellington, and Visual:Ear (Unit Structures), honouring Cecil Taylor’s album. They are bordered with photographs of the musicians repeated alongside the edges of the paintings, a framing device reminiscent of quilts. The Visual:Ear paintings are a continuation of Binion’s exploration of music and visual abstraction, dating back to his time at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. It was here that he created Drawn Symphony:in:Sane Minor, a hand-drawn piece on musical manuscript paper, in 1971. McArthur Binion introduced the ‘visual ear’ concept in his 1973 graduation thesis, which represents his first attempt to visualise music. The current Visual: Ear series began in 2021, with each painting built on a collaged base of musical scores. He calls this layer, which varies from series to series, the ‘underconscious’. Using oil sticks, Binion creates dense, repetitive markings that form geometric patterns and grids, partially hiding the initial imagery. This interplay of concealment and revelation invites viewers to explore the music-inspired and personal narratives within the artwork. Born in Mississippi, the birthplace of the blues, Binion was immersed in a cultural milieu that valued rhythm, improvisation and storytelling – qualities that still reverberate through his work. Within the gridded compositions, he combines methodical, dynamic structures with layering techniques, similar to the rhythms and improvisation of blues and jazz. McArthur Binion uses music as a source of creativity and a way of analysing the structure and emotions in his work. The lighter variants of the series are displayed on the floor below.

The Haints series (2014) in the adjacent rooms consists of ten works that explore the artist’s Mississippi roots and Southern upbringing. Haint is an alternate spelling of ‘haunt’, a term used by African-Americans to describe ghosts or restless spirits. McArthur Binion elaborates: “They involve reverse maps of Mississippi, and are an extension of the DNA:Studies. They are larger self-portraits about who I am and how I live – all the information is there. These works are specifically about me. They are about my involvement with haints and Mississippi... Haints are about people that you knew that are dead – so the ghosts are real. It’s really emotional with the work.” In a break with his typical practice, the Haints are devoid of an underconscious. He continues: “I associate the haints with the legend of people down South crawling out of their skin; I’ve been looking for haints all of my life. The haints swirl around all of the maltreatment that has happened in Mississippi for centuries and centuries – the lynchings, the rape, the regular straight up murders, etc. My father worked seven days a week and made $7.32 per week. So I know what haints are.”

A selection of the artist’s DNA:Studies are shown on the first floor, alongside smaller format works from both the Hand:Work and Visual:Ear series. Colour, autobiography and technique are key focal points in this display. Binion’s DNA:Studies, a subset of the broader DNA series, is a cornerstone of his practice. Central to this body of work is Binion’s replication of his old address and telephone book as the underconscious, a uniquely private artefact that encapsulates years of relationships, connections and memories. With its handwritten entries and worn pages, the book is a literal and symbolic repository of his life experiences. He says: “Each day for the months I painted those, I relived every day of my life because of all of those names.” The names and numbers, partially obscured by layers of oil stick or crayon, are visible upon close examination, adding a narrative layer to the otherwise austere, minimalist grids. The repetitive mark-making, a hallmark of Binion’s practice, recalls the meditative labour of memory and identity formation. It also evokes the physicality and discipline of his early life, spent working on a farm in rural Mississippi.

This contemplative yet physically demanding process also transforms the grid into a tangible record of the artist’s presence. His gestures both conceal and reveal, creating a dynamic tension that reflects the complexity of memory and identity. Binion’s works are thus defined by the proportions of his body, such as hand span and arm length, as well as his physical agility. In the series Hand:Work, Binion makes this connection explicit by incorporating images of his own hand into the underconscious. By foregrounding the physical nature of his practice, McArthur Binion challenges the impersonal, mechanical associations of abstraction and minimalism. His art becomes a testament to the interplay between the intellectual and the corporeal, the personal and the universal. Through this embodied approach, McArthur Binion transforms the act of making art into a profound exploration of what it means to inhabit a body and a history. He creates works that are as much about the process of becoming as they are about the final form.

McArthur Binion lives and works in Chicago. His works were featured prominently in the 57th Venice Biennale, VIVA ARTE VIVA. Solo exhibitions of his work have been organised at Peter Marino Art Foundation, Southampton, NY, USA (2024); Museo Novecento, Florence, Italy (2020); the Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI (2018); the Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, TX (2012). McArthur Binion’s work is in numerous public and private collections and his most recent venture is the Modern Ancient Brown Foundation that provides funding and workspaces to help young visual artists and writers of colour find their voices.

XAVIER HUFKENS

6 rue St-Georges | St-Jorisstraat, 1050 Brussels, Belgium

www.xavierhufkens.com

Joana Vasconcelos @ BRAFA 2025, Brussels - Guest of Honour

Joana Vasconcelos: Guest of Honour 

BRAFA 2025, Brussels 

January 26 – February 2, 2025

Joana Vasconcelos 

© Lionel Balteiro | LaMousse 

Courtesy Atelier Joana Vasconcelos

Joana Vasconcelos 

Dream Curtain, 2023 

© Andre Nacli 

Courtesy Museu Oscar Niemeyer

Joana Vasconcelos is a Portuguese visual artist, born in 1971. Over the course of her 30-year career, she has made use of a wide variety of media. Although she has a preference for textiles, Joana Vasconcelos also works with cement, metal, ceramics, glass, and found objects. She is renowned for her monumental sculptures and immersive installations. Her ambition is to decontextualise everyday objects and revisit the concept of craft in the twenty-first century. Her humorous, ironic work examines the status of women, consumer society and collective identity.

Her international reputation was consolidated in 2005, at the first Venice Biennale curated by women, where she presented her piece The Bride, a classically shaped chandelier whose crystal pendants had been replaced by approximately 14,000 tampons.

Joana Vasconcelos was the youngest artist and the first woman to exhibit at the Château de Versailles in 2012. In 2018, she became the first Portuguese artist to have a solo show at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. In 2023, she had the honour of exhibiting at the Uffizi Galleries and the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, alongside great masters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Caravaggio.

At BRAFA 2025, she will be exhibiting two Valkyries, sculptures inspired by the female figures from Norse mythology who flew over the battlefields, bringing the bravest warriors back to life to join the deities in Valhalla. Made from textiles, they give full expression to the artist’s creativity, involving a variety of fabrics and trimmings. The result is a surprising combination of volumes, textures and colours. Made up of a central body, a head, a tail and several arms, many of the Valkyries combine traditional craftsmanship with more technological methods, such as the insertion of light to simulate vibration and breathing, which gives movement to the work.

BRAFA Art Fair

Brussels Expo – Halls 3 & 4 – Place de Belgique 1, 1020 Brussels

www.brafa.art

KIK- IRPA – Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage @ BRAFA 2025, Brussels

KIK- IRPA – Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage 

BRAFA 2025, Brussels 

January 26 – February 2, 2025

© KIK-IRPA, Brussels

© KIK-IRPA, Brussels

Since its founding in 1948, the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA) has played a pioneering role in the preservation of a wide variety of heritage objects, including paintings, wood and stone sculptures, tapestries, precious metals, glass and elements of architectural heritage. The building in Brussels that has housed KIK-IRPA since 1962 was the first in the world to be specially designed to encourage an interdisciplinary approach to conserving works of art, in which restorers, chemists, engineers, imaging specialists, photographers and art historians work together. Approximately 100 of its scientists are working on ambitious projects at both national and international levels.

KIK-IRPA is best known for its prestigious restorations, such as that of the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb by the Van Eyck brothers in the former baptistery of Ghent's Saint Bavo Cathedral. In its state-of-the-art laboratories, advanced tools such as 3D microscopy, macro-XRF, and radiocarbon dating provide crucial insights into the materials and techniques used by artists and craftsmen, helping to ensure the proper preservation of cultural treasures for future generations. Great importance is attached to rigorous documentation and art history research. For example, the Institute preserves Belgium’s collective visual memory in the BALaT online database, which contains over a million photographs of cultural objects, hundreds of thousands of which can be downloaded free of charge.

At BRAFA 2025, the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage will be showcasing the many facets of its work, from art conservation and restoration to heritage management and scientific analysis, in a space next to the King Baudouin Foundation. Visitors are invited to discover how specialists analyse and document works of art, providing fascinating insights into their history and their crafting techniques. 

Workshops will be held every day at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. for members of the public to learn about methods of conserving works of art and to explore the technologies that are currently in use. Experts will also share fascinating discoveries from their research, illustrating how scientific methods and modern technology are unlocking new dimensions for the understanding of historical works of art.

Workshops can only be booked via the

BRAFA website: www.brafa.art

From Sunday, January 26th to Sunday, February 2nd, 2025, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Brussels Expo – Halls 3 & 4 – Place de Belgique 1, 1020 Brussels

Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage – KIK- IRPA

www.kikirpa.be

BALaT online database

balat.kikirpa.be

Daniel Turner / Compresseur @ MACS, Grand Hornu, Hornu, Belgique/Belgium - Exposition/Exhibition - En Français/In English

Daniel Turner / Compresseur

MACS, Grand Hornu, Hornu, Belgique

15 décembre 2024 - 6 avril 2025

Scroll down for English Version

« Le fondement de mon travail est archéologique. C’est l’idée de localiser un lieu, d’aller dans ce lieu puis de le creuser. Quand je parle de ce processus de travail, j’utilise le mot « creuser » car, d’une certaine manière, je travaille comme un mineur amateur : localiser les matériaux, creuser pour chercher ces matériaux, extraire ces matériaux. » -- Daniel Turner en conversation avec Denis Gielen, New York, mai 2024

DANIEL TURNER

Compresseur, 2024

Extract from the film, 34’08’’

© Daniel Turner

DANIEL TURNER 

Three Sites, Kunsthalle Basel, 2022

Installation view: (Holdenweid) Burnish 1, 2022

© Daniel Turner

Photo © Philipp Hänger / Kunsthalle Basel

Daniel Turner, né en 1983 et installé à New York, a consacré les dix dernières années de sa carrière à la récupération et réappropriation d’infrastructures diverses. Il prélève sur des sites spécifiques des matériaux, des équipements et des résidus laissés par les personnes qui les ont occupés, qu’il transforme pour invoquer « l’esprit du lieu ». Pour sa première exposition muséale en Belgique, Daniel Turner s’est intéressé à un site particulièrement symbolique : l’ancienne prison de la commune bruxelloise de Forest.

DANIEL TURNER

(de Forest) Radiator Bar, 2024.

Iron sourced from Prison de Forest, 7 x 144 x 4 in.

© Daniel Turner

Photo © Philippe De Gobert

A la suite de sa fermeture en 2022, Daniel Turner a entrepris de documenter la prison, réalisant des enregistrements sur le terrain et collectant divers matériaux en résonance avec l’atmosphère carcérale. Des objets utilitaires de la prison – tels que des matelas en mousse, des poignées de porte, des rideaux et des néons – ont été soumis à des traitements chimiques ou mécaniques de diverses intensités. Les radiateurs en fonte, autrefois vecteurs d’énergie et sources de chaleur, ont été fondus et transformés en formes solides et minimalistes.

L’oeuvre de Daniel Turner nous invite à réfléchir sur l’influence des environnements sur nos expériences. À travers des distillations matérielles qui transposent à la fois le lieu et sa matérialité, Turner éveille des réactions psychologiques vives, tout en faisant preuve d’une grande économie de moyens.

Portrait of DANIEL TURNER

Photo © Aurélien Arbet

DANIEL TURNER

Daniel Turner, né en 1983 à Portsmouth, en Virginie, vit actuellement à New York (États-Unis). L’artiste a participé à de nombreuses expositions institutionnelles, notamment à la Chinati Foundation, à Marfa (Texas, États-Unis) ; à la Kunsthalle Basel, à Bâle (Suisse) ; au Kunstmuseen Krefeld, à Krefeld (Allemagne) ; au Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, à Deurle (Belgique), au Pinchuk Art Centre, à Kiev (Ukraine) ; aux Museen Haus Esters und Haus Lange, à Krefeld (Allemagne) ; au Kunstmuseum Thun, à Thun (Suisse) ; au Palais de Tokyo, à Paris (France) ; Muzeul de Arta Cluj-Napoca, Roumanie ; Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France ; Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Varsovie, Pologne ; Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck, Autriche ; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japon ; Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, Paris, France ; et The Maria Leuff Foundation à New York. Les oeuvres de Turner sont présentes dans des collections privées et publiques, parmi lesquelles le S.M.A.K. de Gand, le Kunstmuseum de Bâle, le Centre Pompidou-Paris, le FRAC Bretagne, l’ICA de Miami, le Musée des Arts Contemporains au Grand-Hornu et bien d’autres.

ENGLISH VERSION

Daniel Turner / Compresseur

MACS, Grand-Hornu, Hornu, Belgium

December 15, 2024 - April 6, 2025

‘‘The basis of my practice is archaeological. This idea of locating a site and then going into the site and mining the site. When I speak about that work in the process, I speak in terms of “mining” because in a sense, I’m working as an amateur miner: locating materials, digging for materials, extracting the materials.” --Daniel Turner in conversation with Denis Gielen, New York, May 2024.

Daniel Turner, born in 1983 and based in New York, has spent the past decade of his career focused on salvaging infrastructures. From selected sites, Turner extracts materials, fixtures, and remnants left behind by former occupants, which he then transforms to evoke the «spirit of the place.» For his first museum exhibition in Belgium, Turner has chosen an especially evocative site: the former prison in the Brussels municipality of Forest.

Following its closure in 2022, Turner extensively documented the prison, conducted field recordings, and removed various materials that resonated with the impressions evoked by the carceral environment. Objects of utility sourced from the prison—such as foam sleeping pads, door handles, curtains, and fluorescent bulbs—have been chemically or mechanically processed to varying degrees. Iron radiators, once vectors of energy and sources of heat, were melted down and milled into solid, minimal forms.

Turner’s work invites the viewer to consider how environments shape our experiences. Through material distillations that transpose both place and materiality, Turner evokes psychological responses with a stark economy of means.

DANIEL TURNER was born in 1983 in Portsmouth, Virginia and currently lives and works in New York (USA). The artist has participated in institutional exhibitions including; The Chinati Foundation, Marfa Texas; Kunsthalle Basel, Basel Switzerland; Kunstmuseen Krefeld, Krefeld Germany; Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle Belgium; Pinchuk Art Centre, Kiev Ukraine; Museen Haus Esters und Haus Lange, Krefeld Germany; Kunstmuseum Thun, Thun Switzerland, Palais de Tokyo, Paris France; Muzeul de Arta Cluj-Napoca, Cluj România; Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France; the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw Poland; Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck Austria; the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo Japan; the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, Paris France; and The Maria Leuff Foundation in New York. Daniel Turner’s works are held in private and public collections including; S.M.A.K. Ghent, Kunstmuseum Basel, Centre Pompidou, le FRAC Bretagne, ICA Miami, Musée des Arts Contemporains, Grand-Hornu amongst others.

MACS

Musée des Arts Contemporains

Site du Grand-Hornu

Rue Sainte-Louise, 82, B-7301 Hornu

www.mac-s.be

Collection de M Leuven - Museum Leuven - Musée de Louvain

La Collection de M  

Museum Leuven - Musée de Louvain

29 juin 2024 - 29 avril 2029

‘Moerassen van Genk’ (detail), Rodolphe de Lexhy, 1894,

Collection M Leuven, CC0, photo: M Leuven

/

‘I Sea’ (detail), Tina Gillen, 2018,

Collection Flemish Community M Leuven, photo: © the artist

« La Collection de M » couvre plusieurs siècles, elle comprend des œuvres de maîtres anciens, d'artistes contemporains et de créateurs de toutes les époques intermédiaires. La présentation au musée met en valeur cette collection abondante et vous incite à la regarder de près. Les pièces majeures et les joyaux inconnus font apparaître des correspondances inattendues ou mettent en lumière des sujets sociétaux d'une actualité brûlante.

La présentation fait ressortir la diversité captivante de la collection. Sculpture, peinture, vidéo, céramique, art du verre… quasiment toutes les disciplines y sont représentées. Vous y retrouvez des objets du patrimoine médiéval, des œuvres d'aujourd'hui et des pièces de haut niveau de bien d'autres époques. Pour un certain nombre d'entre elles, il s'agit même de la première présentation dans nos salles.

Si certaines œuvres évoquent clairement et manifestement des thématiques et des récits, d'autres en sont curieusement dénuées. Que montrent-elles aux visiteurs, en fait ? Et que ne montrent-elles pas – mais le racontent, peut-être ?

Comment la lumière et la matière entrent-elles en interaction ? Comment peut-on représenter le passage du temps ? Et comment les artistes se révèlent-ils dans leur travail ? Que se passe-t-il lorsqu'on est face à une œuvre d'art ? Que voit-on, qu'est-ce qui fait défaut, quel complément apporte-t-on soi-même ? Et est-ce qu'une œuvre créée il y a 800 ans peut nous éclairer sur la société actuelle ?

Près de 300 pièces de la collection vous proposent de nouvelles façons de regarder le monde et invitent à vous attarder à ce que vous inspirent les représentations anciennes et d'aujourd'hui.

MUSEUM LEUVEN

L. Vanderkelenstraat 18, 3000 Leuven 

www.mleuven.be

Art Brussels 2024 - 40e édition - 176 Galleries

Art Brussels 2024 - 40e édition

Brussels Expo

26 - 28 avril 2024

Art Brussels, qui célèbre sa 40e édition et qui est la deuxième plus ancienne foire d'art contemporain (Art Cologne a a débuté en 1967, un an avant Art Brussels), reste l'une des principales foires d'art contemporain d'Europe et constitue un des points culminants du calendrier artistique international.

Bruxelles aussi a évolué. Grâce à la richesse de son histoire, son énergie vibrante, ses diverses communautés et sa scène artistique florissante, Bruxelles est devenue ces dernières années l'épicentre de l'art contemporain en Europe et une des villes créatives les plus passionnantes au monde.

Une fois de plus, la foire propose un programme international exceptionnel, avec des galeries de 31 pays et un mélange unique d’artistes établis et de talents émergents. Art Brussels se réjouit en outre du soutien sans faille de ses deux principaux partenaires, Delen Private Bank et Bank Van Breda. 

La grande nouveauté est l’appui de la Ville de Bruxelles, qui s’est engagée, par la voix de son bourgmestre Philippe Close, à acquérir une sculpture en plein air pour un espace public. Un jury décidera quel artiste choisir dans le cadre du nouveau projet de sculptures en plein air, organisé pour la première fois par Art Brussels à Brussels Expo. 

Nele Verhaeren, Directeur Général d'Art Brussels : 

« La prochaine édition d'Art Brussels est une étape importante, car nous fêtons la 40e édition de la foire. Avec 60 % de galeries récurrentes et des nouveaux venus remarquables, nous sommes particulièrement fiers de la diversité et de l'influence de nos participants. Art Brussels continue d'attirer des artistes internationaux de premier plan, établis ou en milieu de carrière, et une galerie sur quatre fait partie de la jeune scène artistique en plein essor. L’édition 2024 promet une atmosphère festive avec différentes initiatives, notamment des prix pour les galeristes ou artistes gagnants pour chaque section de la foire, un projet de sculptures en plein air en collaboration avec la Ville et une zone de flashback nostalgique, où des souvenirs précieux seront exposés. En outre, de nombreuses réceptions offriront aux collectionneurs, galeristes exposants et curateurs l'occasion d’entrer en contact et de célébrer les multiples nuances de l'expression artistique »

176 galeries seront présentées dans les quatre sections de la foire : 119 dans PRIME, 37 dans DISCOVERY, 11 dans REDISCOVERY et 9 dans INVITED, plus 28 dans la sous-section SOLO de la foire. 

56 des galeries participantes sont établies en Belgique. Parmi elles, les suivantes se retrouvent dans la section PRIME, consacrée aux artistes établis ou à mi-carrière : Baronian (Bruxelles, Knokke); De Brock (Knokke); Xavier Hufkens (Bruxelles); rodolphe janssen (Bruxelles); Harlan Levey Projects (Bruxelles); MARUANI MERCIER (Bruxelles, Knokke, Zaventem); Greta Meert (Bruxelles); Sorry We’re Closed (Bruxelles); Gallery Sofie Van de Velde & PLUS-ONE Gallery (Anvers); Tim Van Laere Gallery (Anvers); Axel Vervoordt (Hong Kong, Wijnegem). ​ 

Parmi les galeries internationales incluses dans la section PRIME, citons : Almine Rech (Paris, Brussels, London, New York, Shanghai); Ceysson & Bénétière (Genève, Koerich, Lyon, New York, Paris, Saint-Etienne); ​ C L E A R I N G (Beverly Hills, Bruxelles, New York); Galeria Vera Cortês (Lisbonne); Gladstone (Bruxelles, Los Angeles, New York, Seoul); The Hole (Los Angeles, New York); Galerie Lelong & Co (New York, Paris); Mendes Wood DM (São Paulo, Bruxelles, New York); Nathalie Obadia (Paris, Bruxelles); Nino Mier (Bruxelles, Los Angeles, New York, Marfa); and SMAC (Le Cap, Johannesburg, Stellenbosch). 

Au nombre des nouveaux venus à la foire figurent entre autres ces acteurs internationaux importants : Air de Paris (Romainville); Andréhn Schiptjenko (Stockholm, Paris); annex14 (Zürich); Berg Gallery (Stockholm); Galerie Christophe Gaillard (Paris, Bruxelles); Harper’s (New York). Mai 36 Galerie (Zurich); MASSIMODECARLO (Milan, Londres, Paris, Hong Kong, Beijing); Duarte Sequeira (Braga, Seoul); Galerie Thomas Schulte (Berlin); Steve Turner (Los Angeles); Zander Galerie (Cologne, Paris). ​ 

La foire démontre son attachement à la rigueur curatoriale avec un grand nombre de stands SOLO, dont les présentations de : Mrzyk & Moriceau avec Air de Paris (Romainville); Charles Henry Sommelette avec Baronian (Bruxelles, Knokke); Wolfram Ullrich avec Dep Art Gallery (Milan); Constantin Nitsche avec Xavier Hufkens (Bruxelles); Gabrielė Adomaitytė avec Gratin (New York); TR Ericsson avec Harlan Levy Projects (Bruxelles); Denicolai & Provoost avec LMNO (Bruxelles); Oscar Giaconia avec MONITOR (Rome, Lisbonne, Pereto); Jeanne Vicerial avec TEMPLON (Paris, Bruxelles, New York). ​ 

La section DISCOVERY se compose de galeries qui soutiennent activement les artistes internationaux ​ et compte des stands organisés autour d’un seul artiste ou d’un dialogue intéressant entre deux artistes pas encore connus dans le contexte européen. Cette année, la section comprend entre autres : Alice Amati (Londres); Ballon Rouge (Bruxelles); Double V Gallery (Marseille); Galerie Droste (Paris); Freight+Volume (New York); Galerie Claire Gastaud (Paris); Philipp von Rosen Galerie (Cologne); Suburbia Contemporary (Barcelone); The Drawing Room (Makati); The Rooster Gallery (Vilnius); et Zalucky Contemporary (Toronto). 

Une section de la foire sera consacrée aux présentations REDISCOVERY, axées sur des artistes du vingtième siècle, vivants ou décédés, qui n’ont pas reçu la reconnaissance qu’ils méritaient. Cette année, la section comporte des présentations d’oeuvres de : ​ Sandro De Alexandris avec 10 A.M. ART (Milan); Patrick Angus & Logan T. Sibrel avec Galerie Thomas Fuchs (Stuttgart); Diogo Pimentão, Susan Schwalb & Rebecca Salter avec Patrick Heide Contemporary Art (Londres); Louise Barbu, Elga Heinzen & Zuka avec Françoise Livinec (Paris); Francis Dusépulchre & André Willequet avec Maurice Verbaet Gallery (Knokke) & Lewis Stein avec VIN VIN (Vienna). ​ 

La section INVITED est de retour pour la 40e édition de la foire et se concentre sur les galeries émergentes qui dépassent le format classique de la galerie et n’ont encore jamais exposé à la foire. Parmi les 9 nouveaux venus dans cette section, se retrouve 10N (Bruxelles, Minorque); C.C.C. (Copenhagen); Rose Easton (Londres); KIN Gallery (Bruxelles); RESERVOIR (Le Cap) & Spiaggia Libera (Paris). 

Art Brussels 2023

Photo © David Plas

Art Brussels 2023

Photo © David Plas

La liste complète des galeries d'Art Brussels 2024 :

1 Mira Madrid, Madrid

3+1 Arte Contemporânea, Lisbonne

10 A.M. ART, Milan

10N, Bruxelles, Minorque

418 GALLERY, Munich, Cetate

ABC-ARTE, Genoa, Milan 

acb Gallery, Budapest 

Luis Adelantado Gallery, Valencia 

ADN Galeria, Barcelona, Paris 

ADZ, Lisbonne 

AFIKARIS, Paris 

AIR DE PARIS, Romainville 

AKINCI, Amsterdam 

Alarcon, Criado, Sevilla 

ALICE GALLERY, Bruxelles 

ALMA, Riga 

Alice Amati, Londres ​ 

Andersen's, Copenhagen 

Andréhn-Schiptjenko, Stockholm, Paris 

annex14, Zürich 

Artbeat, Tblissi 

Martin Asbæk Gallery, Copenhagen 

ATLAS Gallery, Londres 

BALLON ROUGE, Bruxelles 

BARONIAN, Bruxelles 

Base-Alpha Gallery, Anvers, Bruxelles 

Belenius, Stockholm 

Galerie Anne-Sarah Bénichou, Paris 

Berg Gallery, Stockholm 

Sébastien Bertrand, Genève 

Bigaignon, Paris

Blouin Division, Montreal 

Galerie Anne-Laure Buffard, Paris 

Galerie C, Neuchâtel, Paris 

C.C.C., Copenhagen 

Ceysson & Bénétière, Paris, Luxembourg, Saint-Etienne, Lyon, New York, Genève 

CLEARING, BruBruxellesssels, New York, Los Angeles 

GALERIA VERA CORTÊS, Lisbonne 

Josilda da Conceição, Amsterdam 

Dauwens & Beernaert gallery, Bruxelles 

De Brock, Knokke 

Kristof De Clercq gallery, Gand 

Dep Art Gallery, Milan 

Dirimart, Istanbul 

DITTRICH & SCHLECHTRIEM, Berlin 

Don Gallery, Shanghai 

Double V Gallery, Marseille 

The Drawing Room, Makati 

Galerie Droste, Paris 

Rose Easton, Londres

Gallery FIFTY ONE, Anvers 

Galeria Foco, Lisbonne 

FRED&FERRY, Antwerp 

Freight+Volume, New York 

Galerie Thomas Fuchs, Stuttgart 

Galerie Christophe Gaillard, Brussels, Paris 

Galerie Claire Gastaud, Paris 

Gathering, Londres 

Annie Gentils Gallery, Anvers 

Gladstone Gallery, Bruxelles, New York, Seoul 

The Goma, Madrid 

Gratin, New York 

Robert Grunenberg, Berlin 

Hales, London, New York 

Harper's, New York 

HdM Gallery, Bejing 

Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, Londres 

Cecilia Hillström Gallery, Stockholm 

The Hole, New York 

Hopstreet, Deurle 

House of Chappaz, Valencia 

Xavier Hufkens, Bruxelles 

GALERIE CATHERINE ISSERT, Saint Paul de Vence 

Jahn und Jahn, Munich, Lisbonne 

rodolphe janssen, Bruxelles 

Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg 

Keteleer Gallery, Anvers 

KIN Gallery, Bruxelles 

Galerie Russi Klenner, Berlin 

ELENI KORONEOU GALLERY, Athens 

Galerie La Forest Divonne, Bruxelles, Paris 

galerie lange + pult, Geneva, Zurich, Auvernier 

Irène Laub, Bruxelles 

Galerie Laurentin, Paris, Bruxelles 

Galerie Lelong & Co., Paris, New York 

LETO, Warsaw 

Harlan Levey Projects, Bruxelles 

Françoise Livinec, Paris 

LMNO, Bruxelles 

Longtermhandstand, Budapest 

Lutnița, Chișinău 

MAGNIN-A, Paris 

Mai 36 Galerie, Zurich 

Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam 

Galeria Jaqueline Martins, Bruxelles, Sao Paulo 

MARUANI MERCIER, Bruxelles 

MASSIMODECARLO, Milan, Londres, Paris, Hong Kong, Beijing 

Galerie Greta Meert, Bruxelles 

Meessen De Clercq, Bruxelles 

Mendes Wood DM, Bruxelles, Sao Paulo, Paris, New York 

Nino Mier, Brussels, Los Angeles, New York, Marfa 

Mind Set Art Center, Taipei 

Ani Molnár Gallery, Budapest 

MONITOR, Rome, Lisbon, Pereto 

Galeria BRUNO MÚRIAS, Lisbonne 

Nadja Vilenne, Liège ​ 

NEWCHILD, Anvers 

NF/ NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ, Madrid 

Nosbaum & Reding, Luxembourg, Bruxelles 

Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris, Bruxelles 

OFFICE IMPART, Berlin 

P420, Bologne 

Galerie Papillon, Paris 

Pedrami Gallery, Anvers 

PLUS-ONE Gallery, Anvers 

Anca Poterașu Gallery, Bucharest 

Berthold Pott, Cologne 

PRATS+NOGUERASBLANCHARD, Madrid, Barcelone 

Galerie Praz-Delavallade, Paris, Los Angeles 

Galeria Presença, Porto 

QG Gallery, Brussels, Knokke 

Galerie Ramakers, Den Haag 

JOEY RAMONE, Rotterdam 

RAVNIKAR GALLERY SPACE, Ljubljana 

Almine Rech, Bruxelles, Paris, London, Shanghai, New York, Monaco 

Thomas Rehbein Galerie, Cologne 

Michel Rein, Brussels, Paris 

Repetto Gallery, Lugano 

RESERVOIR, Le Cap

BRITTA RETTBERG, Munich 

The Rooster Gallery, Vilnius 

Rossicontemporary, Bruxelles

Ruttkowski;68, Cologne, Düsseldorf, New York, Paris 

RX&SLAG, Paris 

Richard Saltoun Gallery, Londres, Rome 

Rosa Santos, Madrid, Valencia 

SARAI Gallery, Mahshahr, Tehran, Londres 

galerie Sator, Paris 

Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin 

Semiose, Paris ​ 

GALERIA SENDA, Barcelone ​ 

SEPTIEME Gallery, Paris 

Duarte Sequeira, Braga, Seoul 

SEXAUER, Berlin 

SMAC Gallery, Stellenbosch 

Galeria Filomena Soares, Lisbonne 

Sorry We're Closed, Bruxelles 

Spiaggia Libera, Paris 

Stems Gallery, Brussels, Paris 

Suburbia Contemporary, Barcelone ​ 

Super Dakota, Bruxelles ​ ​ ​ ​ 

SUPRAINFINIT, Bucharest 

Galerie Suzanne Tarasieve, Paris 

Tegenboschvanvreden, Amsterdam 

TEMPLON, Paris, Brussels, New York 

Triangolo Art Gallery, Cremona 

Steve Turner, Los Angeles 

Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Anvers 

VAN HORN, Dusseldorf 

Tim Van Laere Gallery, Anvers, Rome 

Maurice Verbaet Gallery, Knokke 

Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Wijnegem, Hong Kong 

VETA by Fer Francés, Madrid 

VIN VIN, Vienna, Naples 

Philipp von Rosen Galerie, Cologne 

Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam 

WHATIFTHEWOLRD, Le Cap 

Whitehouse Gallery, Bruxelles 

Wilde, Geneva, Zurich, Bâle 

Yavuz Gallery, Singapore, Sydney 

Zalucky Contemporary, Toronto 

Zander Galerie, Cologne, Paris 

Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery, Luxembourg, Paris, Dubai 

Zina Gallery, Cluj-Napoca 

Gauli Zitter, Bruxelles 

ART BRUSSELS

www.artbrussels.com

Atelier Bouts @ Museum Leuven - Les facettes scientifiques de la création de chefs-d'oeuvre du XVe siècle

Atelier Bouts 

Museum Leuven 

16 février - 28 avril 2024 

DIERIC BOUTS

Christ couronné d’épines, ca. 1470

M Leuven, photo: artinflanders.be, Cedric Verhelst

DIERIC BOUTS

Triptyque avec le martyre de saint Érasme, ca. 1460-1464

M Leuven / Église Saint-Pierre

Photo: artinflanders.be, Dominique Provost 

« Atelier Bouts », l'exposition proposée par M Leuven, est un récit passionnant dans le sillage de la grande rétrospective internationale « DIERIC BOUTS. Créateur d'images ». Au travers de six oeuvres emblématiques, exposées encore quelque temps à M, le musée examine les facettes scientifiques de la création d'un chef-d'oeuvre du XVe siècle. Les visiteurs apprennent comment les Maîtres flamands réalisaient leurs tableaux, de quelles couches se composent leurs pièces, si Dieric Bouts était l'unique auteur des oeuvres qui lui sont attribuées actuellement et comment ces tableaux sont restaurés aujourd'hui, près de 500 ans après leur création.

« La visite d'“Atelier Bouts” est une occasion unique de voir réunis dans un même espace quatre des principaux triptyques de Bouts », souligne Marjan Debaene, conservatrice en chef d'Art ancien à M Leuven. « Après l'exposition, “La Cène” et “Le Martyre de saint Érasme” retourneront irrévocablement à l'église Saint-Pierre, tandis que “Le Martyre de saint Hippolyte” retrouvera sa place à la cathédrale du Saint-Sauveur à Bruges. Le “Triptyque de la Descente de Croix”, un prêt prestigieux venu de Grenade, ira à l'Institut royal du Patrimoine artistique (KIK-IRPA) pour une restauration approfondie. Dans l'exposition, vous apprenez combien les nouvelles technologies comme le balayage Macro-XRF, la réflectographie infrarouge et la dendrochronologie sont importantes pour de telles campagnes de restauration, et quelles découvertes surprenantes elles ont déjà permis de faire. »

DIERIC BOUTS

Triptyque de la descente de la Croix, ca. 1450-1458

© Cabildo de la Capilla Real de Granada 

Photo: Armando Bernabeu Granados

DIERIC BOUTS

Triptyque de la descente de la Croix, ca. 1450-1458

© Cabildo de la Capilla Real de Granada 

Photo: Armando Bernabeu Granados

DIERIC BOUTS

Triptyque de la descente de la Croix, ca. 1450-1458

© Cabildo de la Capilla Real de Granada,

Photo: Armando Bernabeu Granados 

« Atelier Bouts » présente sous un nouveau jour six oeuvres parmi les plus emblématiques sorties il y a cinq cents ans des ateliers de Dieric et Albrecht Bouts, grâce à des techniques d'imagerie récentes et des méthodes innovantes d'étude des matériaux.

Pour le « Christ couronné d'épines » (v. 1470), oeuvre acquise par M en 2019 et tout récemment restaurée, une étude  minutieuse au moyen de la radiographie, c'est-à-dire des rayons X, pemet de suivre les étapes de la réalisation et l'histoire matérielle du tableau.

ALBRECHT BOUTS

Mater Dolorosa, après 1490 

Collection particulière 

© KIK-IRPA, Bruxelles

La dendrochronologie, la discipline scientifique visant la datation du bois, nous apprend que la « Mater Dolorosa » (après 1490) n'a pas pu être réalisée par Dieric Bouts, mais provient probablement de l'atelier de son fils Albrecht.

La macrophotographie a produit des images éblouissantes à très haute résolution du « Triptyque de la Descente de Croix » (v. 1450-1458), permettant d'analyser en détail les techniques employées et l'état de conservation de l'oeuvre. A l'aide de la Macro-XRF ou spectroscopie à macro-balayage de fluorescence X, les chercheurs ont pu déterminer la composition chimique du « Martyre de saint Érasme » (v. 1460-1464), qui nous informe entre autres sur les interventions de restauration dans le passé.

« Le Martyre de saint Hippolyte » (panneau central et panneau de droite v. 1475, panneau de gauche v. 1479), l'une des dernières oeuvres de Dieric Bouts, a été examiné avec la réflectographie à infrarouge ou IRR. La signature qui a ainsi pu être mise à jour renforce la supposition que le panneau de gauche, le portrait des donateurs, a été terminé par Hugo van der Goes, un contemporain de Bouts.

DIERIC BOUTS

Triptyque avec la Cène, 1464-1468

M Leuven / Église Saint-Pierre

Photo: artinflanders.be, Dominique Provost

Bien évidemment, le chef-d'oeuvre absolu de Dieric Bouts ne manque pas à l'appel dans « Atelier Bouts ». Le triptyque « La Cène » (v. 1464-1468) est analysé jusqu'à la plus fine couche de peinture par le biais de l'analyse stratigraphique.

MUSEUM LEUVEN

Leopold Vanderkelenstraat 28 - 3000, Leuven

www.mleuven.be

Leon Kossoff @ Xavier Hufkens, Brussels - "Close Encounters: Paintings and Drawings" Exhibition

Leon Kossoff

Close Encounters: Paintings and Drawings

Xavier Hufkens, Brussels

2 February — 30 March 2024

Xavier Hufkens presents the gallery’s first exhibition dedicated to the work of the British painter LEON KOSSOFF (1926-2019). Featuring paintings and drawings made over a four-decade period,  the presentation highlights two significant bodies of work showcasing major themes in Leon Kossoff’s oeuvre, namely London cityscapes and his ‘translations’ of works by Old and Modern Masters. The exhibition presents a comprehensive overview of Leon Kossoff’s practice as well as its stylistic evolution.

Leon Kossoff was a leading member of the London School, a loose association of artists that also included Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Frank Auerbach, and David Hockney. Although stylistically diverse, they all focused on figuration and expressive realism at a time when abstraction and minimalism were the dominant forces in contemporary art. Kossoff painted London almost obsessively. The works in the exhibition include scenes from the north of the city, where he lived and worked, and the East End, where he was raised. Painted between 1971 and 1992, they chronicle Kossoff’s fascination with the city’s post-war renewal. He was especially drawn to places of transformation and transit, such building sites and stations, as evidenced by Demolition of YMCA Building No. 2, Spring (1971), Booking Hall, Kilburn Underground Station No. 4 (1978) and Outside Kilburn Underground Station, November (1984). Separated by a period of six years, the Kilburn paintings not only bear witness to the artist’s unwavering interest in his everyday surroundings but also the way in which even the most familiar subjects are in a state of permanent flux.

The artist additionally depicted buildings and places that evoked specific memories for him, such as Red Brick School Building, Winter (1982). This was a type of school building familiar to many English children growing up in the post-war period, and which reminded him of the primary school he himself attended in Spitalfields. The nearby church, one of London’s grandest baroque edifices, designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, was the subject of another of his paintings, Christ Church, Spitalfields, Early Summer (1992). For Kossoff, these subjects were not just physical landmarks but ones in which there is a constant interplay between past and present, underscored by the charged and ever-moving brushwork. Leon Kossoff painted London all year round and always from life. Light and the weather determine the atmosphere of his works, together with his gestural technique and characteristic use of impasto. In an oeuvre that chronicles the ebb and flow of life in one of the world’s largest metropolises over the best part of a century, time and memory are important touchstones. While many of the locations that Kossoff painted have long since vanished, the places immortalised in the paintings on exhibition — the Red Brick School Building, (Willesden), Christ Church, Spitalfields, and Kilburn Underground station — can all be seen today.

Leon Kossoff is also renowned for his ‘translations’ of paintings by Old and Modern Masters. While he visited and drew in the National Gallery in London on a weekly basis, and had done from a young age, the drawings in this exhibition were mainly made from works shown in Royal Academy exhibitions: Francisco Goya’s paintings and Courbet’s The German Huntsman were included in the retrospectives dedicated to these artists in 1978 and 1994 respectively, while Titian’s The Flaying of Marsyas (c. 1570-1576) was exhibited in Venetian Painting in 1983. Here too, Leon Kossoff worked from life: he made his drawings in the galleries before the actual paintings. Yet these are anything but academic copies. Leon Kossoff’s rapid, dynamic technique and repetitive strokes are unmistakably his own and the sketches, whilst faithful to the originals, are never identical to them. Hence the term ‘translation’. Captivated by certain Old Masters, or canvases by pioneers such as Cézanne and Courbet, Kossoff strove to analyse the psychological and emotional impact of the paintings by recreating it in his own work. It was both an intellectual engagement and an educational exercise. He wrote in 1987: “In my work done in the National Gallery, and elsewhere from the works of others, I have always been a student. From the earliest days…my attitude to these works has always been to teach myself to draw from them, and, by repeated visits, to try to understand why certain pictures have a transforming effect on the mind.” Leon Kossoff was particularly drawn to dramatic and intense works, or those depicting a struggle, as can be seen in the exhibition.

LEON KOSSOFF began his artistic training at St. Martin’s School of Art in 1943 but left in 1945 to complete three years of military service. He returned to St. Martin’s in 1949 and followed David Bomberg’s classes at Borough Polytechnic from 1950 to 1952. He then completed his training at the Royal College of Art between 1953 and 1956. Leon Kossoff represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1995 and was the subject of a retrospective at the Tate Gallery in 1996. His work is held in major public and private collections around the world, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Tate Gallery, London.

XAVIER HUFKENS

107 rue St-Georges | St-Jorisstraat, 1050 Brussels

www.xavierhufkens.com

Sterling Ruby @ Xavier Hufkens Gallery, Brussels - "DROWSE MURMURS" Exhibition

Sterling Ruby 

DROWSE MURMURS 

Xavier Hufkens Gallery, Brussels 

Through 16 December 2023 

DROWSE MURMURS is Sterling Ruby’s most comprehensive exhibition with the gallery to date. Featuring four distinct bodies of new work—drawings, sculptures, paintings and ceramics—it provides a broad overview of the latest developments in his oeuvre. The presentation not only highlights the sweeping nature of his practice but also its material and thematic complexity. The contrasts that have shaped Ruby’s life—between his European roots and American upbringing, between rural Pennsylvania and urban Los Angeles, and between his father’s work for the military and his parents’ involvement with the hippie subculture—all serve as a catalyst for works in which the personal and political coincide. The title is borrowed from Allen Ginsberg’s poem Drowse Murmurs (1965) that echoes some of the most prescient themes of the exhibition, most notably the dialectic between war and peace, destruction and beauty.

Central to the exhibition are Sterling Ruby’s monochrome drawings, which he is showing for the first time. Executed in ink or graphite, they constitute an entirely new body of work. Raw and volatile energy fills each sheet in the same way Allen Ginsberg’s excoriating words hit the page. The Beat Poet coined the phrase ‘first thought, best thought’ to describe a type of truth-telling born from naked experience. Sterling Ruby’s stream-of-consciousness images, which also eschew artistic self-censorship, evoke explosions, cyclones, and nets. Yet fragile glimpses of nature can also be detected amidst their frantic lines, such as a spider’s web or flower.

Flowers also appear in the artist’s cast aluminium sculptures. The FP in the title stands for ‘Flower Power’, a slogan used in the 1960s and 70s to denote passive resistance to the Vietnam War. Ginsberg invented the phrase in 1965, the year in which he wrote Drowse Murmurs, and it served to transform war protests into peaceful affirmative spectacles. An iconic photograph of a man placing a carnation inside the barrel of an M14 rifle, taken by Bernie Boston in 1971, captures the ethos. This image also featured on a poster in the Ruby household. Sterling Ruby’s sculptures are permeated with the same uneasy tension. Their slender forms—which reference his earlier wooden reliefs—resemble gun shafts and bayonets. They are typical examples of the artist’s regenerative practice and cast from assemblages of wood and other materials. Ruby salvages scrap from his creative projects and endlessly repurposes it, meaning that old works give rise to new. The flowers and foliage, all gathered from around the artist’s home and studio, were cast from life. Through these sculptures, Sterling Ruby also introduces a modern material into his work: aluminium. Synonymous with the space age, it is now a ubiquitous part of everyday life, thanks to its lightness and strength. But it also has extensive military applications. The metal played a significant role in the Vietnam War, for example, when it was used to manufacture people carriers and bombs. With their skeletal, almost spectral appearance, Sterling Ruby’s sculptures stand on the threshold of past and present. By establishing an analogy between militarism and activism, the works also raise questions about the conflicts that define our own epoch.

Other aluminium sculptures are shaped like windmills, a structure symbolic of progress and sustenance. Historic examples still punctuate European landscapes as reminders of a bygone age. Different versions arose in the US: the distinctive water-pump windmills that allowed farmers to conquer America’s ‘breadbasket’, the Great Plains. Both are turbines, although the latter have all but disappeared from the American landscape. On another level, Sterling Ruby’s sculptures also speak to rich visual and literary traditions. From the windmills of Hobbema and Vermeer to those of Malevich and Mondrian, or from Don Quixote to Alfred Daudet’s Letters from My Windmill, this is a machine whose power reverberates down the ages.

Sterling Ruby’s latest TURBINE paintings also include windmill-like forms. They relate to his earlier WIDW series, which included a motif that resembled a window. The shape has now acquired a rotational axis and been set in motion. The transformation is open-ended: are these blasted out windows, propellers or wind turbines? Devoid of references to time or place, the cruciform structures carve the pictorial plane into quadrants. Bold colours, some menacing and others more hopeful, create an indeterminate and volatile visual field. Clouds, wind, fire, smoke, smog, storms and dust all spring to mind. If these are indeed wind turbines, then they are ambiguous emblems. Whilst promising clean and sustainable energy, they also bear witness to the ecological ramifications of turbine-driven industrialisation and war. Other paintings in the series contain coruscating bands of colour, which Ruby achieves by pounding pure pigment into the canvas. It creates the impression of speed and velocity, or explosions and bombs. Here, the collaged motifs are geometric shapes that suggest airplane fuselages, border fortifications such as dragon’s teeth, or nodding donkey oil pumps.

In his recent ceramics, Sterling Ruby continues his exploration of the four-petalled flower motif, or quatrefoil. This archetypal image has multiple spiritual and heraldic connotations, including an association with the four cardinal winds. Ruby has also made a visceral series of ‘flowers’ with lobe-like ‘petals’, and articulated stems that resemble vertebrae. With their gnarled and pockmarked surfaces, and their similarity to arrowheads, they resemble archaeological finds from a post-apocalyptic age. Lucio Fontana’s ceramic crucifixes, in which form and matter dissolve through the pressings and mouldings of the artist’s hands, were a reference point when making these works. Sterling Ruby has worked the clay just as intensely, pounding it in the open air so that it gathers traces, both positive and negative, of the world outside the studio. Like excavations or aerial views of ravaged landscapes, they follow on from the shattered topographies of the artist’s Basin Theology series.

DROWSE MURMURS features works that are not pictorial, figurative or didactic, but which still contain identifiable and thought-provoking elements that say something about the world right now. The formal and material contrasts, together with the slippages between past and present, build into a rich visual terrain that touches upon some of the most burning issues of the day. When Allen Ginsberg published Drowse Murmurs in 1967, it was part of his Planet News collection: a penetrating and an unflinching reportage on his life and times. Sterling Ruby channels that same spirit, anno 2023.

STERLING RUBY was born in 1972, holds American and Dutch citizenship, and lives and works in Los Angeles. Collections include the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Tate, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; and Moderna Museet, Stockholm. Sterling Ruby’s sculpture DOUBLE CANDLE (2018) is installed permanently at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC. Exhibitions include DROPPA BLOCKA, Museum Dhondt- Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium (2013); STOVES, Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris (2015); Belvedere, Vienna (2016); Ceramics, Des Moines Art Center, Iowa (2018, travelled to Museum of Arts and Design, New York); and Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami (2019–20, travelled to Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston). In 2014 he participated in the Gwangju Biennale, Taipei Triennale, and Whitney Biennial.

XAVIER HUFKENS

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