Bradwolff & Partners kicks off the new year with First Light, a group exhibition that returns to a central question in visual art: what happens the moment something becomes visible, before it acquires meaning, before it can even be named?
At a time when narratives, opinions, and current events often take centre stage — in art, on social media, and in public discourse — First Light focuses on that first, elusive instant of perception. The elusive "je ne sais quoi" lies at the heart of the exhibition: the initial spark that arises through attentive looking, before language intervenes.
The show brings together works by Ruta Butkute, Iva Gueorguieva, Katrin Korfmann, Eva-Fiore Kovacovsky, Pere Llobera, Marc Nagtzaam, Jaehun Park, Sophie Järvinen Postma, Marike Schuurman, and Jan Eric Visser. Drawings, sculptures, paintings, installations, photography, and video communicate not through explanation but through presence. Each work exists as a tangible presence in space, demanding physical closeness and focused attention. The exhibition invites a slowing down: to look without immediately interpreting, and to experience how meaning gradually emerges — with meaning emerging only later.
Visual art possesses a capacity that is fundamentally distinct from film, literature, or music. Film unfolds in time, literature in language, music in sound and rhythm; visual art, by contrast, exists in the radical immediacy of space. It engages both eye and body, resonates with the senses, and opens an experience in which meaning arises in the very act of perception—before any narratives present themselves. Here, the visible comes alive through touch, light, material, and physical proximity; an intensity unmatched by any other medium.
Art operates in a pre-linguistic zone, a realm of sensation, rhythm, and tension that eludes words. First Light makes that experience tangible, not as a concept, but as an invitation: to look, to feel, to be present.
About the artists
Pere Llobera (1970, Barcelona, ES) was a resident at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and held solo exhibitions at Fundació Joan Brossa and F2 Galería (Barcelona, Spain). His work is included in the collection of Museum Voorlinden (Wassenaar, the Netherlands), and he has participated in international group exhibitions such as Self-organisation at Fundación Joan Miró (Barcelona) and the Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art (Greece). He was awarded the prestigious Sacha Tanja Penning.
Ruta Butkute (1984, Kaunas, LT) lives and works in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and has exhibited at Kaaistudios (Brussels, Belgium), Teruhiro Yanagihara Gallery (Osaka, Japan) and Museum Leuven (Belgium). Her work is included in collections such as the Guldagergaard International Ceramic Center (Denmark), Amsterdam UMC Art Collection, and the European Ceramic Workcentre – EKWC (the Netherlands). She has participated in residencies at EKWC (the Netherlands), Rosas P.A.R.T.S (Brussels, Belgium) and the Arita Residency (Japan).
Iva Gueorguieva (1974, Sofia, BG) lives and works in Los Angeles, USA, and has exhibited at the Benton Museum of Art, UTA Artist Space and LACMA. Her work is included in collections such as MOCA Los Angeles, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the Art, Design and Architecture Museum (UC Santa Barbara). She has participated in group exhibitions at Studio Museum Harlem and Hammer Museum, and has received awards including the Howard Foundation Grant and the Pollock-Krasner Grant.
Katrin Korfmann (1971, Berlin, DE) lives and works in the Netherlands. She studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, was a resident at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam, and is pursuing doctoral research at Leiden University and the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK), where she also teaches. Korfmann has received the Prix de Rome (2nd prize) and the Esther Kroon Award. Her work is held in international collections and has been shown at the Nederlands Fotomuseum, Kunstmuseum Den Haag and Aperture (New York). She has also completed public commissions for Schiphol Airport, the Rijksgebouwendienst and the Province of Stockholm.
Eva‑Fiore Kovacovsky (1980, Bern, CH) explores the relationship between humans and plants through analogue photography, cyanotypes, and herbaria. She studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie (Amsterdam) and the Schule für Gestaltung (Basel). Her work has been shown at Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen, Aargauer Kunsthaus, C/O Berlin, Kunsthalle Basel and Kunsthall Stavanger, and is included in collections such as FOAM, Huis Marseille (Amsterdam), Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Kunstkredit Basel, Kunstmuseum Bern and the Swiss National Library (Bern).
Marc Nagtzaam (1968, Helmond, NL) studied at Academie St. Joost (Breda) and HISK (Antwerp), and has held solo exhibitions at De Vleeshal (Middelburg), Barbara Seiler Galerie and Archiv (Zurich), art3 (Valence), Kajetan, Raum für Kunst (Berlin), ProjecteSD (Barcelona) and Umbrella (Denmark). His work is included in collections such as the Centraal Museum (Utrecht), S.M.A.K. (Ghent), Kadist Art Foundation (Paris), FRAC Bourgogne (Dijon), Teylers Museum (Haarlem) and Stedelijk Museum Schiedam.
Jaehun Park (1986, KR) studied painting at Seoul National University and earned a Master in Artistic Research at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague. His work is held in collections such as AkzoNobel, Hyundai Motors, ING, the Korean Institute for Advanced Study, LAM Museum and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Park has exhibited nationally and internationally and was awarded the H/ART AveNEW Media Art Prize in Seoul in October 2025.
Sophie Järvinen Postma (1980, Amsterdam, NL) studied Architectural Design at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and has a background in art history. She investigates how intuitive choices and materials together create a direct, sensory experience. In series such as Portraits of Being (2015) and Life in Pastels (2018), she translates this approach into sculptural forms, using clay, ink and pastel to reveal the essence of the object. Postma has presented solo exhibitions in Dutch contexts including Art on Paper (2024) and Life in Pastels (2019), and her work has been shown at De Salon at Arti et Amicitiae.
Marike Schuurman (1964, Groningen, NL) studied photography at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and was an artist-in-residence at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, both in Amsterdam. She has held residencies at Künstlerhaus Bethanien (Berlin), Beijing, São Paulo and CEAC (Xiamen, China). Her work has been exhibited at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, FOAM Photography Museum, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), Helmhaus Zurich and KINDL, Center for Contemporary Art (Berlin), and is included in collections such as Sammlung Hoffmann (Berlin), Sammlung Hackelsberger (Berlin), Achmea Art Collection, FOAM Photography Museum Amsterdam, KPN Art Collection and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Jan Eric Visser (1962, Leeuwarden, NL) has explored since 1987 how sculpture can emerge from recycled materials within ecological frameworks. His work has been shown in selected exhibitions including Techniek: zegen of zorg? at Art Gallery LUMC (2023), Through Bone and Marrow at Brutus (2023), Beelden 2024 at Landgoed Anningahof, Green Paper at Art on Paper, Amsterdam (2024) and A World of Water, Norwich (2025), and is expected to be presented at Lustwarande, Tilburg (2026). His work is included in collections such as Stedelijk Museum Schiedam and the Verbeke Foundation (Belgium).