We are delighted to invite you to the exhibition Sylvie Zijlmans & Hewald Jongenelis at the Shores of the Sea of Resentment which features recent paintings by the artist duo.
Zijlmans and Jongenelis work in a variety of media. Depending on the demands of the subject or context, the duo creates metres-high drawings with cartoon-like images and texts, large-scale performances in which an entire neighbourhood may participate, or meticulously directed photographs and films including unique costumes and set pieces
The works sometimes look theatrical, even a touch surreal, yet topicality and personal drama are never far away. The work emerges in reflection on the world around us, sometimes inevitably and directly, sometimes through a subtle undertone.
Regardless of the medium or the setting in which it is displayed, Zijlmans and Jongenelis' art is vital and powerful. It exudes energy and appears to be above all about creative freedom, expression, and experiment, about an artistry and a life without compromise. This certainly holds true for the latest paintings on show in the exhibition Sylvie Zijlmans & Hewald Jongenelis at the Shores of the Sea of Resentment.
Exiled to their workshop because of COVID-19, the artist duo decided to resume painting two years ago. Zijlmans and Jongenelis developed an artistic interaction in which they intuitively responded to each other's actions on the canvas, challenging each other to always push beyond the familiar solution; with no preconceived concept or plan, and no guiding theme or image, only an open mind and a boundless curiosity to witness what emerges in the process. The result is a series of autonomous paintings in a direct and poetic visual language, with daring images about origins, doubt, pain and panic.
The interplay between the grand and powerful gestures and the precision in the details, the use of colour, and the mix of figuration and abstraction create a visual dynamic that carries the viewer along. Together with Zijlmans and Jongenelis, we stand at the shores of 'the Sea of Resentment', looking out over the swirling splendour of repressed desires and unprocessed traumas. 'While the images in these works were created in a confrontation with the confusing reality of the world around us, the paintings mainly represent themselves,' Zijlmans and Jongenelis say.
After their education at the Rijksakademie and De Ateliers in Amsterdam, Sylvie Zijlmans and Hewald Jongenelis have been collaborating on a body of work consisting of video, film, performance, drawings, paintings, installations, and publications. Their works have been shown in museums and art institutions at home and abroad. In 2017, the duo made the critically acclaimed solo exhibition The Magnetic North & The Idea of Freedom at Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam. In 2023, they made the short psychological horror film The Mother of All Failure, that they presented together with a series of new paintings in the exhibition The Garden of Doubt and Panic at PARK, Tilburg. New work is currently on show in the group exhibition Yes, I Do, at New Dakota, Amsterdam.