This weekend, I will have some of my latest sculptures on display at the Artief art fair in Diest, Belgium. I will be in the good company of artists like David de Graef (who’s curating the show), Raf Veulemans, Jo Pirard, Jef Bertels, Peggy Wauters, Johan Nieuwborg and many more.
The artfair runs from friday till sunday and is open every day from 1pm till 7pm. I will be present the whole time.
So come check it out.
Soon it will be November and that means the yearly Artikel 27 group show will be upon us again. My participation in this show has become kind of a tradition. I believe this is the 6th year in a row that I’m showing my work with them.
This year, the theme of the exhibition is ‘On the Origin of Humanity’. Artwork inspired by Charles Robert Darwin.
Participating artists are: Pieter Bas, Anne-Sophie Christiaens, Frans Daels, Monique De Ceulaer, Bart Derison, Stefan Elsen, H.A.Gerard, Ellen Gieles, Tjen Heyligen, Rene Jacobs, An Kindermans, Ronny Leinders, Gie Luyten, Vivian Majevski, Johan Nieuwborg, Herwig Nulens, Winde Nulens, Frank Nuyts, Martin Oluwadiran, Moos Pozzo, Johan Reynders, Tim Roosen, Birgit Stulens, Eline ’t Sant, Rita Vanelderen, Karel Van Gerven, Tonie Van Marle, Marianne Vereijken, Els Wenselaers, Marcel Witte and Art Zapedzki.
Opening is on sunday 1st November at 2:30pm at St-Willibrordusplein 2 in Heusden-Zolder. The exhibition will run untill 15th November and the finissage is on that day in the Basisschool De Springplank, Kapelstraat, Heusden-Zolder.
Opening hours are daily from 1pm till 6pm and sundays and holidays from 1pm till 7pm. Entrance is free.
More info can be found here: www.artikel27.be
The poster of my upcoming group show in Berlin in November was released yesterday. Looks like an amazing line-up AND with the release of Mark Ryden’s new book, this is going to be brilliant!
Last friday, 11th September, I drove to Nancy, France, with 4 sculptures in my car for the Souterrain show. Location of the exhibition and ‘Body Art Festival’ is the T.O.T.E.M. in the ‘Industrial Wasteland’ of Maxéville, only 5 minutes out of Nancy Center. It is an interesting old industrial building turned into exhibition space and concert hall.
I got there around noon, looked for Christophe Ragonnet, a nice guy who had been my contact with the organisation and then checked out the location. My ‘Rhiannon’ sculpture was put upstairs in the ‘Cabaret Rouge’ where it was in the good company of works by Bruce Mitchell, Delirium, Benalo and Nicolas Senegas, to name just a few.
My 3 other sculptures, ‘Breathe’, ‘Scanner’ and ‘Hunter’ were placed downstairs in the ‘Pavillon Noir’, where I was quite excited they were displayed right next to HR Giger’s work, as well as Viktor Koen’s and PIT’s.
They really feel at home there I think.
After a quick trip to Liverdun and Nancy center, I hung around for the opening night, had a nice talk with Bruce Mitchell and then headed back home on another 3.5 hour drive.
The exhibition runs until 3rd October. All info can be found on:
There are a few interesting things happening for me in Denmark in the near future. Claus Brusen, director of Fantasmus Gallery in Saeby and curator of the ‘Dante’ show wrote me earlier this week with a couple of proposals, which are really exciting to say the least.
First of all there is the 4th Biennial of Fantastic Realism in 2011, which he is curating again, and which has ‘The Freakshow’ as a theme. Claus already invited me to be in it when I delivered my sculptures for the Dante show at his gallery earlier this year.
Since it is a theme in which my work fits perfectly, I ofcourse said yes.
Earlier this week, Claus invited me to be in his Easter show at his gallery in 2010. I again said I would love to.
Since a round trip to Saeby is about 2100km, we got to talking about the possibility of him hanging on to my work after the show ends.
So I am happy to say that, as of April 2010, my work will be on permanent display at Fantasmus Gallery in Saeby, Denmark.
In other words, Fantasmus Gallery will be representing me in Denmark.
Last but not least - and I am possibly even more excited about this than the upcoming shows – I will be included in Claus’s upcoming book ‘Imaginaire III’, scheduled for release in September 2010.
So how is Denmark as of late? Well, pretty exciting!
Three more weeks and I will be heading to Maxéville in France, which is just outside Nancy, to deliver my sculptures for the Souterrain show. This is the 5th edition and promises to be bloody brilliant if you ask me. I am particularly looking forward to seeing Bruce Mitchell’s work, but also Patrice Hubert, Viktor Koen and Christopher Conte’s stuff.
The show opens on friday 11th September and I will be present that evening. More info will be posted as soon as it becomes available, but I will leave you with the flyer and the link to the Souterrain website.
Another creature came to the Asylum last night. Beaten and battered, scratched and more dead than alive, the light in its once bright red single eye almost completely faded.
The Watcher, as always, was the first to see it as it stumbled through the gates of the Asylum, and called upon His Lordship, who offered it sanctuary.
They named it ‘Scanner’ and the workers tried their best to bring the shine back to its steel skin. They couldn’t, however, relight the fire in its eye. It remained dim and after a while went out alltogether.
It was a long trip, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The Dante show is absolutely beautiful and one could spend hours at the old city hall, staring at the numerous works of art. The quality of this show is amazing, as is its sheer size.
We got to Viechtach around noon on saturday, installed the new sculptures and then met up with Claus and Sannie Brusen for lunch. We were joined by Monica Fagan and her husband, Michael Hiep and Oliver Zappeli, and Reinhard Schmid made a quick appearance, as he was still working on the frame of his painting and had to get it finished in time for the opening at 7pm.
The little town of Viechtach, with its picture perfect market square, really outdid itself. I don’t think we have ever felt this welcome, and the opening reception was both warm and professional. I estimate that about 300 people showed up, if not more.
We were joined by more artists, including Magda Francot, Annabelle Claudia and Richard Pernsteiner. This led to the inevitable group photo.
The evening ended in true Bavarian style, in the beergarden downstairs.
The Viechtach show runs untill 27th September and ends here. We are not going to Poland.
I can however tell you that the next biennial is called ‘Freakshow’, and since that is right up my alley…
Wait till 2011 and come to Denmark.
I leave you with my personal favorite of this show. This is Reinhard Schmid’s “Divina Commedia”.
Enjoy.
This weekend, the Dante exhibition opens in Viechtach, Germany. As I am writing this, all the artwork is on its way there from Denmark. My sculptures aren’t in that truck, because I’m happy to say that both ‘Lucretia’ and ‘Primeval’ have found a new home with an art collector in Denmark.
However, this means that I have to take 2 new sculptures to Germany. I have decided to take ‘Feeder’ and ‘Watcher’. We leave friday afternoon and should be in Viechtach around noon on saturday, where we will install the 2 sculptures in time for the opening reception later that day.
I am quite excited to see the whole show and meet my fellow artists. We couldn’t make it to Saeby for the opening, so this is going to be the first time I’m going to see all the paintings and sculptures myself. The city of Viechtach has graciously provided us with a hotel room for saturday night, which I think is quite special.
The city of Kolobrzeg in Poland however has decided to back out of the project. SD Galleria in Warsaw then stepped in and said they would show the work instead. At this point in time I’m not sure yet if I’m going to go ahead with this and show my work in Warsaw. I first need to know more about the conditions of this gallery. Will keep you posted.
In the mean time, the ‘30 Somethings’ exhibition is still running in Mijdrecht, Holland, and preparations are on their way for the ‘Souterrain’ show in Nancy in September.
It is going to be a busy Fall, but quite an exciting one.
NovaBelgica is going on holiday, but first we stop in Berlin this friday to attend our good friend Lisa Mei Ling Fong’s exhibition opening at Strychnin Gallery, Boxhagenerstrasse 36, Berlin, Germany.
So if you’re in the neighbourhood, drop by. It starts at 7pm.
After that, we’re off to Poland.
Back soon.
