Tim Van Laere Gallery is pleased to present a group exhibition featuring works by Otto Dix, Armen Eloyan, Adrian Ghenie, A.R. Penck, Peter Rogiers, Ben Sledsens and Rinus Van de Velde. Taking its title from an expression Tim Van Laere and the gallery's artists use in their daily correspondence, Take care, amigo presents works centering on painting, sculpture and drawing.
Otto Dix (b. 1891 Gera; 1969, Singen) was very affected by World War I, when he was at the front and his work is heavily inspired by the images of combat, desolation and misery, engraved on his memory. His work is is included in collections such as MoMA, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Met, NY; Guggenheim Museum, New York.
Armen Eloyan (b. 1966, Yerevan; lives and works in Zurich), who states that his paintings are a reference to the structure of a joke, predominantly paints large scale canvases in lush primary tones. His work has been exhibited at galleries and institutions worldwide, including Timothy Taylor Gallery, London; Galerie Bob van Orsouw, Zurich; Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art, London; and A Vision of Central Europe, curated by Luc Tuymans, Bruges, 2010.
At first sight Adrian Ghenie's (b.1977, Baia-Mare; lives and works in Cluj and Berlin) paintings deal with subjects that carry a historical set of references, but collective memory is constantly challenged by enigmatic prophetic actions, occulted and personal folds in the temporal linearity. Ghenie's works have become increasingly complex and multilayered, generating an open-ended set of internal and external meanings. Recent solo exhibitions include the Romanian Pavilion at the Venice Biennial (2015); CAC Málaga; the Museum for Contemporary Art, Denver; S.M.A.K. Museum, Ghent; the MNAC, Bucharest. His work has been included in group exhibitions at the Palazzo Strozzi, Florence; SFMOMA, San Francisco; the Francois Pinault Collection at Palazzo Grassi, Venice.
A.R. Penck (b. 1939, Dresden; lives and works in Dublin) became one of the foremost exponents of the new figuration, Neue Wilde alongside Jörg Immendorff, Georg Baselitz and Markus Lüpertz. Under the East German communist regime, they were watched by the secret police and were considered dissidents. In the late 1970s they were included in shows in West Berlin and were seen as exponents of free speech in the East. He has presented numerous solo exhibitions worldwide including Kunsthalle Bern; Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Gemeentemuseum, The Hague; The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt; and Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.
Peter Rogiers's (b. 1967, Antwerp; lives and works in Oud-Heverlee) ironic-expressive sculptures hover between abstraction and figuration, combining both a tremendous craftsmanship and an innovative visual language. His work has been exhibited at galleries and institutions worldwide, including Middelheim Museum, Antwerp; Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin; De Garage, Mechelen, Belgium; and Galerie Richard, New York. His works are in a number of collections, including Mu.ZEE (Fine Art Museum Ostend), SMAK (Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst Gent), M HKA (Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen), Middelheim Museum, Antwerp, and LACMA, Los Angeles.
Ben Sledsens's (b. 1991, Antwerp; lives and works in Antwerp and London) paintings display the contrasting textures of the materials, such as matte acrylic, bright oil, spray paint. Central to the work is his profound understanding of painterly tradition. His large format canvases exist in a long tradition of painting that reference Henri Matisse, Henri Rousseau, and Pieter Bruegel the Elder, yet his works are part of a bigger poetic universe that is all his own.
Rinus Van de Velde (b. 1983, Leuven; lives and works in Antwerp) has developed a practice that results in monumental, narrative charcoal drawings, but behind which lies a much broader production. He combines, amongst others, found and staged photography, performances without spectators, cinematic narrative techniques, installations, and sculptures. These elements serve as the basis of drawings that depict a completely different world, yet also document a very real working process that takes place mainly in the studio. Solo shows at König Galerie, Berlin (forthcoming); Gemeentemuseum, The Hague (forthcoming); S.M.A.K., Ghent; Kunsthalle São Paolo; CAC Málaga, Spain; Artisanal House, New York.
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