Moataz Alqaissy, Priscilla Gils, Anouk Van Offenwert, Witold Vandenbroeck

Moataz Alqaissy

Priscilla Gils

Anouk Van Offenwert

Witold Vandenbroeck

Opening: Wednesday 18th September 2024, 18:00
in the presence of the artists

Moataz Alqaissy: contemporary faded glory. The Iraqi visual artist Moataz Alqaissy (°1986, Baghdad) has lived in Antwerp since 2009, where he studied painting and visual arts at the AP University of Applied Sciences between 2019 and 2021. His abstract visual work mainly consists of assemblages of layers of cloth, linen, cotton or tarpaulin, which he glues, deforms, surgically sews together, daubs or haphazardly nails to the wall. By using coarse materials such as wood paint, filler, cables and nails, he frees the canvas from its classical-elite status, but at the same time also from its status as a subordinate disposable material. By mixing canvas and binding agent, he sculpts works that have a raw and violent undertone. Alqaissy finds his inspiration in diverse domains, from art history to ancient civilizations or childhood memories of Baghdad, the city that was radically reshaped by serious socio-political events. Since his stay in Belgium he has been investigating the relationship between identity and location; how a space affects a body or how space can be enclosed in a work of art. His material handling of the painting's components opens a window through which other subjects slip in. Memories of his youth and experiences with war and destruction have left dents and are reflected in the dismantling of the painting. Due to his origins, his work balances between two extremely different cultures. His monochrome canvases are characterized by their erased or faded colors that bear witness to a gray past that has lingered in tradition and personal memory. In any case, they have lost all luster. In an interview, Alqaissy says: "A city like Baghdad was a monument, but what is left of it is an excavated city that tells a story about a rich past. The city has now been mummified. It is an 'undead' city: it exists but it is not alive." Characteristic of Moataz Alqaissy's paintings is that on the one hand they relate to the canon of classical painting and on the other hand they withdraw from it. Like his predecessors, he strives for more interaction between painter, viewer and painting by literally giving the canvas a place in space. As a primary component, the canvas must be pliable and malleable and as such emphasize the artistic process more than the result.

Priscilla Gils (°1979, Borgerhout) is a Belgian artist. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Fine Arts (department Painting). Before the brush and oil paint became basic, the camera was her preferred tool. Separation and dismemberment; distance and proximity are key concepts. They are inherent in her photographic practice and are means of coming to a better understanding of what reveals itself. Not only paintings, but also maquettes, photographs and film are part of the artistic arsenal.

Anouk Van Offenwert (°1997, Schoten). She lives and works in Antwerp. She obtained a Master’s degree in painting from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp in 2021. In 2019, she studied at UCM (ES). In 2020, she participated in the workshop ‘Drawing in practice’, organized by the Philippe Vandenberg Foundation (BE). Anouk’s paintings are created by a ‘joie de peintre’: pleasure in painting, and curiosity about how ink, self-made paint and drawing techniques interact. She is also inspired by the texture of finely woven bale cotton, powerful pigments, and nature. The artist thus marvels at how transformations, patterns, lines, and unexpected atmospheres occur in plants and in the air, and analyses and translates them into her painting practice. During the painting process, this mental world is confronted with (mostly) large, unprepared canvases. There is a great spontaneity in this making that can still be felt in the final result.

 
Witold Vandenbroeck (°1994, Leuven) graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp in 2021 with a master’s degree in Painting and holds a master’s degree in civil engineering and architecture from the KULeuven. In the past two years, he has co-founded the FAAR collective and continues to develop his painting practice. His works have been featured in various exhibitions and fairs in Brussels, Antwerp, and Leuven. He lives and works in Antwerp.