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Oscar van Gelderen , Uitgever, auteur & verzamelaar
10 Belgium artists
Avid art collector, publisher and co-author of the 'The Choice of…' Oscar van Gelderen and his wife and editorial staff Manuela Klerkx travel to Antwerp at least once a month where they visit artist studios, galleries and museums, and just can’t get enough of the fantastic arts and cultural climate (and the delicious food!) that exist to this day. As you may well know, art has a more prominent place in the lives of our southern neighbours. Or rather, art is a given, it just belongs to life. Just like poetry, humour, pleasure, and the sense of wonder typically associated with forms of expression such as Surrealism. View and read Oscar's personal top 10 of Belgian / Flemish artists that can be found on GalleryViewer.
2 Media items ᛫ 9 Available artworks
2 Shows ᛫ 6 Highlights ᛫ 0 Recommendations
Those looking for art from neighbouring Belgium should go to Gallery Viewer where you’ll find anything from Godfather Guillaume Bijl - the star of the eighties, shining example for young artists and master of the transformation: Bijl transformed galleries into mattress outlets, dog grooming salons, massage parlours, a gymnasia and casinos - to the young, virtuoso painter Joris Vanpoucke, whose beautiful 'swept' portraits are just as impressive as his 'landscapes' and 'seacapes'. The ten selected artists work in all media: paintings, drawings, sculptures, photography and crossovers with design and multimedia.
3 Media items ᛫ 14 Available artworks
11 Shows ᛫ 5 Highlights ᛫ 0 Recommendations
What makes Belgian / Flemish art so unique?
Love for paintings, for craftsmanship, absurdism, joie de vivre, romance (especially its dark side), but also humour is a frequently recurring theme. You can see it in the work of the aforementioned Guillaume Bijl, but also with someone like D.D. Trans, who works with everyday objects such as sponges, candles, wires, wheels, air fresheners, balloons and paintings he picks up at thrift shops or markets, which he subsequently "edits". Interventions in the everyday, making our view of the ordinary unusual, yet always with a light touch.
Love for paintings, for craftsmanship, absurdism, joie de vivre, romance (especially its dark side), but also humour is a frequently recurring theme. You can see it in the work of the aforementioned Guillaume Bijl, but also with someone like D.D. Trans, who works with everyday objects such as sponges, candles, wires, wheels, air fresheners, balloons and paintings he picks up at thrift shops or markets, which he subsequently "edits". Interventions in the everyday, making our view of the ordinary unusual, yet always with a light touch.
6 Media items ᛫ 20 Available artworks
8 Shows ᛫ 5 Highlights ᛫ 0 Recommendations
Gallery Ramakers in The Hague has the largest roster of Flemish artists in the Netherlands: besides D.D. Trans Ramakers also represents Willy de Sauter and Gert Scheerlinck, who, like DD Trans, focuses on small interventions. De Sauter is a mid-career artist, who is still going strong, and creator of lived and felt monochrome work. A recent group show also featured work by Johan de Wit (represented by Rutger Brandt Galerie), who, like De Sauter, focuses on monochromes on the one hand, and on sculptures on the other.
0 Media items ᛫ 17 Available artworks
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Those who love real painters should have a look at Joris Vanpoucke’s work as well as the dreamy works of Ralf Thys. As for photography, I suggest Wouter Deruytter, who lives in America and is fascinated by rodeos.
Johan Tahon
7 Media items ᛫ 0 Available artworks
0 Shows ᛫ 0 Highlights ᛫ 1 Recommendations
According to his website, Johan Tahon (like Vanpoucke represented by Gerhard Hofland in the Netherlands), "has not become a sculptor. I have always been a sculptor and will always be." His compelling, confrontational work is populated by "hurt giants and unapproachable angels, tormented creatures and demure monks, sensual nudes and amorphous hybrids." Recently, Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo performed at an exhibition by Tahon. Till Lindemann, lead singer of Rammstein, is also part of his inner circle. An inescapable artist, whose work leaves no one untouched.
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Rising star Kasper Bosmans is represented by top galleries all over the world, and by talent scout par excellence, Galerie Fons Welters. Bosman's unique oeuvre cannot be summed up in a few words or even a few sentences, but he once described himself as a "history nerd". Bosmans is inspired by the Middle Ages, maps, flags, mythological and anthropological artefacts.
3 Media items ᛫ 11 Available artworks
6 Shows ᛫ 1 Highlights ᛫ 1 Recommendations
We conclude with multi-talent Hans Op de Beeck, a major consumer of all media that can serve him: sculptures, installations, drawings, watercolours, photos, videos, animations, films, music and texts. Op de Beeck is not about small gestures: bigger is better. My favourite work is the 250 square meter installation The Collector’s House (2016): languid images of posing models, full bookcases, a pond with flowers, all built up in shades of grey, as if time stood still.
3 Media items ᛫ 14 Available artworks
9 Shows ᛫ 0 Highlights ᛫ 0 Recommendations
Top 10
1 Guillaume Bijl
2 Willy de Sauter
3 Hans Op de Beeck
4 Kasper Bosmans
5 Johan Tahon
6 Joris Vanpoucke
7 D.D. Trans
8 Johan de Wit
9 Wouter Deruytter
10 Geert Scheerlinck