True Faces

The young, contemporary generation of artists in the Netherlands presents a dynamic variety of work in different disciplines, such as painting, sculpture, video, photography and installation art. With this selection of young Dutch artists, I have aimed at focusing on the different notions of painting – philosophical, ideological, psychological and iconological – but always engaged with the world. These artists explore the limits and possibilities of the discipline of painting, in a dialogue with the existential questions of the time and place they are living in.

Striking in this selection is the presence of Robert Lambermont. Lambermont is not a conventional painter, but his work has often been described by the artist as ‘drawings moving into space’. He is interested in an organic and intuitive way; in the moment when a flat, two dimensional drawing becomes a spatial, three-dimensional object and puts the typical limits of a two dimensional medium to the test. In the same way, Frank Govers’ artistic research evolves around exploring the spatial and sculptural possibilities and limitations of painting and challenging our perception with phenomenological questions.

Keetje Mans, Lotte van Lieshout and Thijs Jansen are artists who show a more poetic, metaphysical way of engaging with the world. They do not shy away from using exuberant, appealing colours in their work. Both Keetje Mans and Lotte van Lieshout seem to explore a dreamy, metaphysical realm in their paintings; a realm characterised by a dreamlike, nostalgic and exotic atmosphere. The works of Lotte van Lieshout and Thijs Jansen appear to be saturated with a feeling of alienation and impermanence.

Wafae Ahalouch, Kim van Norren and Hanan Klei are examples of artists who explore the narratives and deconstruct the ideologies concealed inside an image. Wafae Ahalouch tries to show the multiple layers of a story by combining different narratives in one image and, in doing so, she reveals an endlessly complex world. The work of artist Kim van Norren is derived from images – or to be more precise, phrases – taken from their original context. She is fascinated by the spoken word and shows graphically painted phrases, stripped of their emotions and isolated from their context. And finally, Hanan Klei presents to us her fascinating world of masquerade, in an expressionistic revelation of the ‘true faces’ behind the surface of the imagery.