27 March–10 May 2014
Tim Van Laere Gallery
Verlatstraat 23-25
2000 Antwerp
Belgium
T+32 3 257 14 17
F+32 3 257 14 25
info [at] timvanlaeregallery.com
www.timvanlaeregallery.com
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Tim Van Laere Gallery is pleased to announce the fourth solo exhibition by Adrian Ghenie (b. 1977, Baia Mare, Romania) at the gallery. The exhibition features a new group of masterly paintings from Ghenie’s “Van Gogh” series.
At first sight Adrian Ghenie’s 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. To quote the artist: ‘What intrigued me about Van Gogh is this difference between the reality of his actual existence which was a complete nightmare from top to bottom and Van Gogh the cliché, which is a beautiful fantasy. I have kept an eye on this subject for a long time, since I discovered what Francis Bacon did with that painting of Van Gogh, On the Way to Tarascon.’
Ghenie’s works have become increasingly complex and multilayered, generating an open-ended set of internal and external meanings, veering closer towards abstraction. As in the past, he often inserts self-portraits into the works—as in Self-Portrait as Vincent Van Gogh 3 (2014). Infused with ambiguity, the works operate in the areas between figuration and abstraction, history and imagination, past and present.
A future solo exhibition of Adrian Ghenie’s work is planned to take place at the CAC Malaga. Recent solo exhibitions include the Museum for Contemporary Art, Denver; S.M.A.K Museum, Ghent; the National Museum of Contemporary Art (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 and the Liverpool Biennial. His works are represented in numerous international collections, including the S.M.A.K. Museum, Ghent; M HKA, Antwerp; SF MoMA, San Francisco; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; CAC Malaga. Adrian Ghenie lives and works in Cluj and Berlin.