Nel Aerts & Béatrice Balcou

The practice of Nel Aerts (1987, Belgium) is not limited to one medium. Although the emphasis seems to be on painting, her work includes collages, drawings, sculptures and textiles, as well as animations, videos and performances. Her distinctly figurative work is often populated by tragicomic figures rendered in simple lines and blocks of colour. They function as masks that the artist intentionally uses to reveal or precisely to conceal her own person. In The Waddle Show; a counteract curated by Valerie Verhack at M Leuven, these clownesque figures become the audience of a theatrical stage on which Nel Aerts presents a new series of stacked sculptures. They form a fragile parade of objects that are suggestive of a process of risk-taking and possible failure.

On the occasion of this exhibition, M and Triangle Books are publishing Aerts’ first monograph, an overview of ten years of painting: Nel Aerts. The Wanderer Paintings.

Nel Aerts had numerous solo and group exhibitions in Belgium and abroad, including Westfälischer Kunstverein Münster, Kunsthalle Lingen, Warande Turnhout, Horizont Gallery Budapest, M HKA Antwerp, AstrupFearnley Museum Oslo, and Aargauer Kunsthaus Aarau.

Béatrice Balcou (1976, France) radically challenges the way art is produced, in part by making her own versions of existing artworks. Her artistic approach is atypical: she carefully examines artworks that are not hers, copies them and takes on the role of technician or conservator. For Balcou an artwork is not a fleeting image that can be quickly identified or consumed, but rather a physical presence that requires our attention and time. Essential for her is the way we look at things and then process that information. The exhibition space becomes a place where the rapid consumption of artworks and culture in general is resisted and opposed.

In her Untitled Ceremonies series, Balcou explores the meaning of the gesture, drawing on her training in visual art and dance, but also on her knowledge of martial arts and Japanese tea rituals. What the gesture symbolizes for her is the importance of touch, feel and movement. Most works of art in collections have a ‘score’, a sort of handbook or condition report, which sets out how the work can best be conserved and how it should be presented to the public. What interests Balcou are the technical manuals and the learned codes relating to the manipulation of an artwork.

In a show curated by Eva Wittocx at M Leuven, she brings together several existing works in one gallery: sculptures, film, drawings and pieces that can be activated during performances.

Béatrice Balcou lives and works in Brussels. Her recent solo and dual exhibitions include La Ferme du Buisson Centre for Contemporary Art in Noisiel, Exile gallery in Berlin; Casino Luxembourg Contemporary Art Forum; Le Quartier Centre for Contemporary Art in Quimper; FRAC Franche-Comté in Besançon. Her work has featured in numerous group shows including Kunsteverein Langenhagen, WIELS, Brussels, Centre Pompidou, Paris and Palais de Tokyo, Paris.

This exhibition is a coproduction of M Leuven and La Ferme du Buisson, with the support of ADAGP and la copie privée

Press: For more information, please contact Philippe Mertens, philippe.mertens [​at​] mleuven.be