ANTWERP.- At the Académie française Ingres famously described his curriculum as, 'We will begin by drawing, we shall continue to draw, and then we shall draw some more'. It is undoubtedly the variety and breadth of approaches to drawing that are most clearly evident in this exhibition, ranging from figurative drawing to abstract explorations of the formal and aesthetic properties offered by the medium.
Georg Baselitz (b. 1938) work evokes disquieting subjects rendered as a means of confronting the realities of the modern age. His iconic “upside-down” paintings, in which bodies, landscapes, and buildings are inverted within the picture plane, make obvious the artifice of painting. Museum exhibitions include Guggenheim Museum, NY (1995); Galleria Borghese, Rome (2011); Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2011–12); Haus der Kunst, Munich (2015).
Gust. De Smet (b. 1877 – 1943) created work in a rigorous and distant form language. His collage-like compositions with schematized figures recall the work of the French artist Fernand Léger. His work is included in museum collections such as MSK, Ghent; KMSK, Brussels.
Long considered a marginal eccentric, beloved on a need-to-know basis, James Ensor (b. 1860- ✝ 1949) significantly influenced generations of later artists. To this day, Ensor's art continues to baffle in its psychological complexity, internal contradictions, and sheer eccentricity. His work is included in major museum collections such as MoMA, NY; J. Paul Getty Museum, LA; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.
Kati Heck (b. 1979) is to be considered an heiress to German Expressionism. One is reminded of the bars, dancers and actors of Otto Dix and George Grosz at the same time as the Old Masters. Heck synthesizes and fuses styles. Upcoming solo-exhibitions at M HKA, Antwerp; Corbett vs Dempsey, Chicago. Recent solo shows include CAC Málaga, Museum Het Domein, Sittard; Mary Boone Gallery, NY; group shows at Saatchi Gallery, London; Bozar, Brussels; National Art Museum of China, Beijing.
Anton Henning’s (b. 1964) work is best described as Gesamtkunstwerk; a total synthesis that is painted, drawn, sculpted, written and filmed. Solo shows: Kunsthalle Mannheim; S.M.A.K., Ghent; De Pont, Tilburg. Group exhibitions: Museu de Arte de Sao Paulo; Henry Moore Institute; White Cube, London; Haus der Kunst, Munich.
Mike Kelley (b. 1954- 2012) produced an oeuvre that included drawing, painting, sculpture, video, photography, performance, music, and a body of critical writing. Kelley’s art conflates the highest and lowest forms of popular culture in a relentless critical examination of social relations, cultural identity, and systems of belief. Selected exhibitions: Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2012); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2013); Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2014); Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (2013); WIELS, Brussels (2008); Musée du Louvre, Paris (2006).
Since the early 1960s, the New Zealand artist Susan Te Kahurangi King (b. 1951) has been reworking cartoon characters like a rogue animator, abstracting and disassembling them in surreal landscapes. 'There is no distance between the artist and her drawings—they constitute direct and unmediated expression', according to Gary Panter.
Edward Lipski (b. 1966) states 'Iʼm interested in the space between something you understand and something that is also abstract. This confusion creates a particular intensity.' His work moves between these two poles; the distance between extremes is blurred, until we find ourselves immersed in a seductive visual chaos. Selected exhibitions: at MDD, Deurle; Alan Koppel Gallery, Chicago; The Approach, London; Museum het Domein, Sittard; group shows at La Maison Rouge, Paris; Mudam, Luxembourg; M HKA, Antwerp; MARTa Herford; S.M.A.K., Ghent.
Exploring themes as revolution and the power of art, Jonathan Meese’s (b. 1970, Tokyo; lives and works in Berlin and Hamburg) installations, paintings, sculptures, and performances emerge from the “Dictatorship of Art.” Apparently effortlessly, he has developed in all genres an independent and at the same time unique vocabulary that gives his work a variety, visual energy and quality which, according to Robert Fleck, has been unheard of since Picasso. Solo shows at Gem, The Hague; CAC Málaga; MOCA Miami; de Appel, Amsterdam; group shows at the Guggenheim Museum, NY; MARTa Herford; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Saatchi Gallery, London; and MoMA PS1, NY.
Francis Picabia (b. 1879 – 1953) was a French avant-garde artist. He was one of the early major figures of the Dada movement in the United States and in France. In 1915 Picabia traveled to New York, where he, Duchamp, and Man Ray began to develop what became known as an American version of Dada. The drawings 'Drill Bit' and 'Drill Head' are typical of his Dadaist phase; their association of mechanistic forms with sexual allusions were successfully shocking satires of bourgeois values. His work is included in museum collections such as Guggenheim, NY; MoMA, NY; Tate Modern, London.
The duality of Tal R’s (b. 1967) heritage is recognized in his work, which offers sensations both celebratory and sinister. Tal works with a variety of media and intuitively culls imagery from diverse sources. Selected exhibitions: Louisiana Museum; Arts Center of Givat Haviva, Israel; Royal Academy of Arts, London; Kunsthalle Wien; Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen (together with Jonathan Meese); Kunsthalle Mannheim; Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg and Kunsthalle Düsseldorf.
Ed Templeton (b. 1972) spent his youth in a world of skateboarding and punk music. He describes his drawings, photos and paintings by means of anecdotes and feelings that give a new, more profound interpretation to the images. Solo shows at S.M.A.K., Ghent; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; group shows at Museo de Reina Sofia, Madrid, Museum Het Domein, and La Triennale di Milano.
Torey Thornton (b. 1990) investigates the perception of pictorial space. His works are typically colorful and ambiguously suggestive of both abstract form and figuration. Solo exhibitions at Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY (forthcoming); Modern Art, London; and Karma, NY.
Rinus Van de Velde's (b.1983) practice consists of black-and-white charcoal drawings on canvas and on paper. He often stages scenes in self-made photographs, which serve as material for narrative drawings in which the artist is the protagonist. Solo shows at S.M.A.K. Ghent (forthcoming); Kunsthalle Sao Paolo (forthcoming); CAC Málaga; Stedelijk Museum Schiedam; Artisanal House, NY.
