Borzo is pleased to present New Dawn at Art Rotterdam, an exhibition of new work by Koen Vermeule.
In Vermeule's work, the human figure occupies a central yet elusive role. His figures inhabit spaces that are at once mundane and indeterminate: a square, a lakeside, a theater stage. They appear to wait, to watch, or to be caught up in an action unfolding just beyond our field of vision. Vermeule captures moments suspended between action and contemplation — silences in which time seems to dissolve.
Central to his practice is the Rückenfigur, a motif familiar from Romantic painting, most notably the work of Caspar David Friedrich. By turning the figure away from the viewer, Vermeule draws us into their perspective rather than distancing us from it. The gap between image and viewer narrows: we find ourselves inhabiting the same space, sharing the same gaze.