08 april 2024, Yves Joris
Hair of the Dog: a tale of colour and form
As I step into PONTI, I realise it's the first time I’ve entered the space. I almost feel a sense of shame because the art gallery is literally around the corner from where I live. Why haven't I been inside before? Is it because I associate the space with young and dynamic people who faithfully attend every opening? I’ll be the first to admit that I was mistaken. The cheerful colours and art by Ellen Meers and Maxim Renard are well worth a visit (and purchase) for both young and old.
The opening of an exhibition at PONTI usually turns into a small public celebration, transforming the narrow Wolstraat into an open-air festival. Perhaps the first warm evening without rain has attracted more people than usual? I don't know, but the atmosphere is lively and 'Hair of the Dog' will likely still resonate in the minds of some the following morning. The full expression is 'hair of the dog that bit you', a playful description for using alcohol to cure a hangover. Against this backdrop, the work of Ellen Meers (°1996, Maastricht) and Maxim Renard (°1994, Tongeren) engage in dialogue.
Maxim Renard, Sadness is rebellion, 2024, in the exhibition Hair of the Dog in PONTI
Autumn harmony in warm yellow and black
In a world where time and place converge as a complex web of experiences, artist Maxim Renard’s work reveals the deep connections between materials, locations and moments. The artist studied media, art and design in Hasselt and earned a Bachelor's degree in social work.
His artistic journey traverses a landscape of discoveries, where no creation is hastily sketched, but rather a meticulous composition of found elements. With a thoughtful approach, the artist weaves pieces of material into independent work that seeks and finds a subtle balance between time, geography and events. His creative process involves a patient exploration of connections between different structures, colours and forms, ultimately converging into compositions reminiscent of topographic maps or the imprints left on the landscape of his observations. The choice of specific locations, such as Borgloon during carnival or a seemingly ordinary railway crossing near Diepenbeek, function as a framework for his work. These places not only serve as sources of inspiration, but also as signposts for his artistic exploration.
All the same, Renard's creative process involves more than just arranging found materials; it is a continuous repurposing of objects into different compositions. Sometimes chance guides his actions, echoing the approach of artists like Hans Arp and Ellsworth Kelly, who also embrace the power of found objects in their work. "What intrigues me most is the ability to create new meanings from forgotten geometric and colourful elements. My work, infused with an aesthetic that is both frayed and harmonious, reflects my pursuit of repurposing materials, a transformation that elevates the mundane to the extraordinary."
Maxim Renard, September, 2023, PONTI
Maxim Renard invites us to reconsider the world around us, to see beauty in the forgotten details that shape our daily reality. His work prompts profound reflection on the interplay of found matter and endless possibilities of artistic imagination.
To me, the work September is a personal reflection on the transition of seasons, with the warm yellow background of the summer months slowly fading away due to the encroaching blackness of December. Various abstract forms create a dynamism that seems to unfold the changing of seasons before the viewer’s eyes. As mentioned earlier, Renard's use of both figurative elements and abstract forms creates a vibrant visual language that balances between painting and collage, making September a work that challenges both the mind and eye, one that invites the viewer to explore their own interpretations and emotions, an echo of the personal and collective experiences that the month of September brings.
A language of symbols and colours
Ellen Meers lives and works in Brussels. She earned her degree from KASK in Ghent, where she graduated in the summer of 2021. Since then, she has built an impressive portfolio that reflects her unique artistic vision. Her work balances between printmaking and painting, a fusion of techniques that gives her art a distinctive character. Her work originally focused on monotypes, classical analogue printmaking. Using this technique, she printed sheets of paper in various sizes with color fields and line structures in vibrant colours. These monotypes form the basis of her artwork, but are only the beginning of her creative process. On these monotypes, she has drawn and painted enigmatic symbols that fluctuate between recognisable shapes and unknown silhouettes. These symbols are not randomly chosen, but based on anecdotes and memories from her own childhood or stories entrusted to her by family members. These personal elements imbue her work with deep emotional resonance and make each piece unique.
Ellen Meers, Story cubes, 2024, PONTI
Meanwhile, Meers' work has evolved from monotypes to ceramic tiles, still with the same focus on these enigmatic signs. She creates her symbols as a kind of lemmata in a reference work. Placed side by side, they form the story of a particular moment, but encapsulated in enigmatic images that together evoke the hieroglyphs of the ancient Egyptians. This gives her work a mysterious and intriguing character. But despite the mysterious nature of her work, Meers' artwork also feels familiar and open. It invites the viewer to construct their own narrative or memory. This interactive element not only makes her work visually appealing, but also emotionally engaging. More recently, Meers transitioned to glazed ceramics, a beautiful example of which is the work Story Cubes (2024).
With this work, the artist takes us into her own universe. We gaze at our Rosetta Stone and try to decipher the code, only to realise that we will not or cannot reach consensus. Each image creates its own world, a reality that is different for everyone. In a world where time and space converge, this tile tells a story. Each symbol, a chapter, each with its own meaning. The keyhole, a door to the unknown. The pencil, the power of creation. The tree, a symbol of growth and connection. The moon, a reminder of the cycles of life. The rain cloud, a promise of renewal. The eye, the observer of the world... This is no ordinary tile; it's an enigma, a poem, a journey through life itself.
With Ellen Meers and Maxim Renard, PONTI brings together two artists whose visual language seems immediately clear to everyone at first sight. But those who take the time to pause and analyse, and allow the different layers of language to penetrate, will see the pure visual poetry that emerges here. Understandably, people continue to talk long after the vernissage, at the risk of the 'hair of the dog' afterward…
