07 january 2022, Flor Linckens
Ballroom Gallery: Simon Demeuter & Tamara Van San
Until 22 January, Ballroom Gallery in Brussels is showing a duo exhibition with work by Simon Demeuter and Tamara van San. The gallery arose from the collaborative Ballroom Project, an art-fair-that-isn’t-really-an-art-fair that celebrated its first edition in 2019.
Rather than a series of contiguous booths, Ballroom Project offered an overarching concept, that was carefully curated by a professional and took into account both the works on display and the exhibition space. After three successful editions, founders Ida Wollens of DMW Gallery and Bart Vanderbiesen of Base-Alpha Gallery decided to join forces last September. In addition to their own galleries, they set up a permanent space on the Rue Royale in Brussels. For each exhibition, the gallerists will each nominate one artist. The combination of artists then determines what form the exhibition will take. A collaboration, for instance, or two separate solos. That way, Ballroom Gallery is able to work outside of the box. In the subproject ‘Ballroom Invites', the gallery owners also offer opportunities to emerging artists who are taking their first steps into the art world.
Simon Demeuter, I'm Not In Love - 03, 2021, Ballroom Gallery
In the current gallery exhibition, we see how the Belgian artists Simon Demeuter and Tamara van San have both been inspired by ancient civilisations, resulting in unmistakably contemporary works.
Simon Demeuter spent some time in Rome, where he was inspired by those famous mosaic floors and the ancient histories that they immortalise. He was particularly intrigued by the gladiators. Where earlier works by his hand show a more literal depiction of these gladiators — with (bloody) knives, a trident and various types of armour — the battles in these newer works seem more symbolic, which creates a different kind of tension. In some of these works, we see a single person who seems mostly at odds with themselves. Demeuter works in powerful, emotion-enhancing colours and simplified forms, which means that you get to perceive his works in a very direct way.
Tamara Van San, ARCADIA, 2021 (detail), Ballroom Gallery
Like Demeuter, Tamara Van San works in a classical medium, which she subsequently makes her own. For her sculptures, she experiments with a multitude of shapes and unconventional materials: from string and plastic to metal — and the end results are executed in vibrant colours. On her Instagram account, the artist shares her love for deep-sea diving, from inspecting a wreck in Curaçao to the depths of Greece, Panama and the Middle East. That hobby is reflected in Van San's colourful sculptures, as well as her activism for the environment. In a way, her sculptures seem to have been taken over by algae and corals, visualised in eery and unnatural colours.
