upcoming

Wednesday November 21 (7-9 PM): opening ‘Splendid Isolation’ by Nils Verkaeren

(runs until Dec. 22, 2018)

Booklaunch and exhibition of the paintings made in Colombia this summer.

Inspired by the classic novel Walden from H.D. Thoreau and as an exercise in authentic and conscious living, artist Nils Verkaeren made his way to Colombia. Seeking solitude and with nothing more than a few painting materials, books and provisions, he moved into an abandoned coffee plantation; a place with no electricity, just a rudimentary shelter and Mother Nature as company. His only social interaction was the result of two lengthy morning walks a week to the nearby village.

In the glow of the morning sun, he would set up a painting studio in the wild. Intuitively, he tackled large works. The result is a cerebral concentrate. As the sun passed its zenith, the forces of nature took hold, first in the form of thick mist, and later in the afternoon as incessant rain; it was time to seek shelter. For the next hours the only sound that could be heard was that of the thick drops tapping on the corrugated iron roof. Under these climatic conditions he made time for his smaller works on wooden panels. These works convey the melancholic mood of the moment; they are mostly marked by a dark and threatening atmosphere, which intermingles with the shades of colour. On the other hand, the larger works were developed under the sun’s guidance, and therefore are more cheerful in terms of the palette.
Hilde Van Canneyt 2018

Nils Verkaeren painting in Colombia, July – August 2018

Nils Verkaeren’s undertaking resulted in 6 works on canvas, 40 works on panel and the making of a sketchbook. All these works are published in an artist edition on quality paper. The book is printed in Bruges on 500 copies and contains one sleeve , two books and six cards. One book is a 1:1 copy of the sketchbook. The second book contains all the works on panel and guiding text of the artist and Daan Rau. The works on canvas are printed on six loose cards.

32 copies of the book are numbered 1-32 and signed and contain an original page from the sketchbook (oil on prepared paper) and is for sale for 280 euro (- discount of 50 euro if pre-ordered before November 21).