For Artissima 2021 we are pleased to introduce a duo presentation featuring new works by Anneke Eussen (NL, 1978) & Hans Vandekerckhove (BE, 1957). Both artists share a threefold working process of recycling, restructuring and poetic displacement that emerges into contemplative abstract & figurative landscapes.
Anneke Eussen repurposes architectural elements out of function into new compositions. Recycled glass panes, marble tiles and metal window frames are brought together into wall sculptures that capture the traces of time. Through repetitions in her work, emerges the reassuring presence of the familiar, hence creating a feeling of safety. As Anneke Eussen says “Within my work the repetitions are explorations of what might seem similar but in time and space represent uniqueness…”
In ‘Social solitude’, 2021, Anneke Eussen explores the solitude deriving from our use of social media. The compositions are representations of the graphs registering personal preferences on smartphones and of how our digital environment determines what we consider being valuable or not.
Alongside the works ‘Social solitude’, Anneke Eussen presents a series of 19 compositions called ‘Lifting the outlines’, 2021. Both series of work are a visual representation of the artist’s focus on the research and the determination of value.
With ‘Lifting the outlines’, the artist creates maps of places that are all at once past, actual, and future, prompting “a promise of growth that might be real”.
Time, translucency and transparency are also present in the dreamy landscapes of Hans Vandekerckhove. Recycling and combining elements of nature, architecture, and figure into a new compostion, Vandekerckhove’s visual poetry takes in a unique position in the Belgian contemporary painting scene. Hints of surrealism and magic realism are combined with a technique reminiscent of painting in fresco.
In ‘Friedrich’s Trees’, 2021, Hans Vandekerckhove retraces the steps of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. To approach the German philosopher closer as well as to reflect on the world and its landscapes, Vandekerckhove went to places where Nietzsche once lived. As Hans Vandekerckhove puts it himself, the painting is the result of “mental landscapes composed with elements from reality as well as from my charged imagination”.
‘Peter’s Park’, 2021, depicts a landscape surrounded by mountains and at the center of it, a statue. This feeling of intimacy confronted with the imposing figure of the statue creates an unsettling environment. A reference to our small, enclosed worlds that can at times be overwhelming.
In ‘My Father’s Birds’, 2021, the artist drew his inspiration on the house he grew up in, built by his father. Bird feeders were near a set of large windows from which Hans Vandekerckhove could watch the birds up-close. Astride the outside world and the inside, childhood memories and present time, this series brings about a sense of nostalgia for the warmth and magic of childhood.
Anneke Eussen lives & works in the Netherlands and is now also represented by Marinaro in New York (US) where she just had her debut solo show. Her work is included in collections worldwide. Recent solo exhibition include ‘Present Portal’ at Marinaro, New York (USA), ‘Little Triump’ at Tatjana Pieters, Ghent (BE), Duo with Bram Braam at Park Platform for Visual Arts, Tilburg (NL), Duo with Roeland Tweelinckx at Galerie Fontana, Amsterdam (NL), ‘Circle lines,’ Cruise&Callas, Berlin (DE), and ‘Close to what’s real,’ Highlight Gallery, San Francisco (USA). She took part in multiple group exhibitions like ‘disorder (REPEAT), DMW gallery, ‘Recyclage / Surcyclage, Fondation Villa Datris, L’Isle- sur-la-Sorgue, ‘Listen to the Stones, Think like a Mountain,’ curator Evelien Bracke, Tatjana Pieters; BORG2014, a biennale for contemporary art in Antwerp (BE), LSD Gallery during Gallery Weekend Berlin (DE), Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht (NL), CC De Bond, Bruges (BE), The Wand, Berlin (DE) and Ainsi Building, Maastricht (NL).
Hans Vandekerckhove lives & works in Ghent Belgium and is represented by Tatjana Pieters. His work is part of private and public collections in Belgium and abroad such as The Central Bank of Europe (GE), Belfius Art CollectIon (BE), Flemish Government (BE), Fortis Bank and Insurances (NL/SP), The Phoebus Foundation (BE), Museum Minden (GE), Mu.ZEE Ostend (BE), Museum Kortrijk (BE), Nestlé (DE), National Bank of Belgium (BE) and University of Antwerp (BE). His painIngs are part of private collections in Belgium, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain and the US. Throughout his career, Vandekerckhove has had numerous solo exhibitions both in galleries and museums, amongst which MKM Duisburg (DE), SMAK Ghent (BE), Mu.ZEE (BE) and Museum Xanten (DE).