We, tegenboschvanvreden and Galerie Onrust, asked Toon Verhoef and Ana Navas to make a show together. The idea was: two artists, two galleries, one exhibition. This challenge has resulted in a collaboration that has become a unique and treasured experiment for both of them. Now it’s our pleasure to invite you to come and see [mano a mano], an exhibition that “has its origins in words, images, films, objects, in ‘things that have always stayed with us and that are important to us’, as the artists explain. It is the outcome of successive exchanges of ideas and experiences, the sum of a series of unfathomable translations, deformations, and amalgamations. Disparate worlds mingle in images of unclear origin that are nevertheless remarkable, suggestive, and meaningful.” (quote interview Dominic van den Boogerd with the artists)
Reacting to recurring themes on their respective practices or to sketches that were lingering in their archives, the pieces blend two universes that, at first glance, are alien to each other. On closer inspection, this blend welcomes awkwardness, a shared fascination with the mundane and the idea of artistic practice as a jolt out of the predictable.