In his first solo exhibition in a Dutch gallery in 20 years, Mark Brusse shows recent paintings, next to collages and sculptures from his earlier oeuvre. There is no shortage of museum attention, after retrospectives in Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen (2019) and Museum Beelden aan Zee, The Hague (2021-22 - until 8 May!) and the acquisition by the Paris museum Centre Pompidou of a large number of works in 2021.
Mark Brusse's life story reads like a novel; a succession of travel memoirs, artistic encounters, and multicultural influences.
Born in Alkmaar in 1973, in an artistic milieu of journalists, writers, and actors, the young Mark spent most of his childhood in war-ravaged Nijmegen, after his mother remarried following the death of his father.
Having attended the academy in Arnhem, the 23-year-old artist left his native country in 1960 to settle in Paris, where he began his artistic career and adult life.
For Brusse, art is life, and vice versa. His artistic life takes him on numerous journeys around the globe. There are few places he hasn't been; his huge sculptures can be found in many locations and he has been able to work wherever he went. He is still working to this day, whether in his Paris studio or on the coast at the furthermost tip of Brittany.