The Gap: Selected Abstract Art from Belgium

Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art is delighted to present a group exhibition of major abstract art from Belgium, curated by the renowned Belgian painter, Luc Tuymans.

For this exhibition, his first curated for a public institution in London, Luc Tuymans has brought together some 40 works from two successive generations of Belgian artists. Working in a variety of media, including painting, sculpture and installation, the artists presented in the show are:

Francis Alÿs (1959–), Carla Arocha & Stéphane Schraenen (1961– and 1971–), Gaston Bertrand (1910–94), Amédée Cortier (1921–76), Raoul De Keyser (1930–2012), Walter Leblanc (1932–86), Bernd Lohaus (1940–2010), Guy Mees (1935–2003), Gert Robijns (1972–), Timothy Segers (1983–), Boy & Erik Stappaerts (1969–), Philippe Van Snick (1946–), Jef Verheyen (1932–84) and Pieter Vermeersch (1973).

Focusing on the notion of abstraction in twentieth-century and contemporary Belgian art and the varying sources of influence and inspiration among the artists of two generations, Tuymans has selected 15 artists whose work either articulates a relationship to abstraction or takes as its cue the definition of abstraction. Although the artists themselves have emerged from different periods and motivations, a clear formal relationship between the selected works is apparent, and thereby reveals a current and earlier interest in abstraction that has not lost its relevance over recent decades.

Luc Tuymans, himself a figurative painter who constantly seeks to extend the traditional boundaries of his practice, has specifically selected these artists for the individual nature of their practice and the paradoxical way each of them uses their medium. Presented in the two gallery floors of Parasol unit, their works collectively investigate the potential, formal and conceptual tensions within the notion of abstraction.

Works by the earlier generation of artists represented in the show can be loosely situated within geometric abstraction and abstract constructivism, influenced by artists such as Piet Mondrian (1872–1944) and groups such as De Stijl (founded 1917) and the ZERO movement of the 1950s and ’60s, as well as the American Colour Field painters. Whereas the more recent works by the younger generation of artists reconstruct and reinterpret the modernist ideas and concerns from today’s artistic point of view. Ultimately, this exhibition highlights the diversity of artistic practice within abstraction, while revealing intergenerational influences and allowing viewers to explore and be challenged by the depth and limits of abstraction.

Parasol unit appreciates the generous support of Flanders, State of the Art.