Ben Sledsens: Between Fish and Stars

Tim Van Laere Gallery presents Between Fish and Stars, Ben Sledsens’ sixth solo exhibition at the gallery. In this exhibition, Sledsens presents a new series of paintings and introduces a new series of charcoal drawings on paper.

Our perception ranges from between the fish to the stars, and that is exactly where Ben Sledsens draws his inspiration from. He observes and takes everything in from his environment; from the deep woods and vast landscapes to a flower arrangement in a living room. There is no hierarchy present in his subjects; anything that catches his eye is worthy of painting. However, Sledsens’ work does not represent reality but an interpretation thereof. He searches for the utopian in the banal and directs our gaze to the beauty in the things that surround us. In his universe, he abstracts his observations to their essence and searches for the absolute total experience of light and color. He questions our ways of seeing, our perceptions and our assumptions about the reality that surrounds us and the truth behind their meaning. Sledsens’ dialogue with his canvases is an open and honest one, in which form, line, composition and color are always the main subjects.

Each step he undertakes in his painting process is well thought out to find the right touch for each part of his composition. To do this, he carefully looks at the work of his predecessors. “Art history is shaped by generations. What is being made now would be impossible without what was before. I go through those generations, look at what inspires me and draw from that for my own work,” says the artist. Sledsens has a broad and diverse palette of sources of inspiration and measures himself with his predecessors. His landscapes share compositional similarities with Pieter Breughel the Elder and Henri Rousseau, while his play with light and color reminds us more of the works of James Ensor, Claude Monet, Henri Matisse, Pierre Bonnard and even the abstract expressionists such as Mark Rothko who went to the extremes in his exploration of the experience of light, color and form. However, Sledsens never completely distances himself from the figurative; he abstracts in search of essence and beauty within the recognizable forms of his subjects. In doing so, he wants to invite the viewer to take in the familiar shapes around them and make them aware of the beauty in their daily impressions.

In this exhibition, Sledsens also presents his charcoal drawings for the first time alongside his paintings, in which he completely abandons his play with colors and focuses on the essence of his composition and the play of lines and shapes. He chose to work with charcoal, one of the oldest drawing materials, because of the fluidity and freedom this technique gave him on paper.

Ben Sledsens (b. 1991, Antwerp) lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium. His work is included in several international collections, such as Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego; M HKA, Antwerp; CAC, Malaga; Fundacion Canaria para el Desarollo de la Pintura, Las Palmas De Gran Canaria; the Hermitage, St. Petersburg and Nassima Landau Art Foundation, Tel Aviv.

Tim Van Laere Gallery Antwerp—Rome.