Since January 20, the following permanent artists have been exhibiting: Brigitte Cauquil, Martine Cuyvers, Daniel Derderian, Joran Pollet, Nicole S. Pousset, Kristina Smidts, Philip Verhoeven and Jan Wouters. These works will soon also be available for purchase via the Nobody&Friends webshop.
The works on display are regularly renewed.
A varied mix of sculptures in glass and steel, figurative and abstract art in acrylic paint, mixed media, oil paint and watercolor. In a pricerange from € 300,00 to € 4.000,00.
For Martine Cuyvers, painting is a creative process of self-discovery that is converted into something tangible. Searching for her purest self in a state of complete freedom and childlike wonder. A quest for purpose and identity.
Her paintings are abstract, suggestive and always layered in structure and color. Sometimes stark in black and white, sometimes flowing and intensely colored. Open to free interpretation by the viewer.
Her gallery Nobody&Friends is a platform where affordable art from established and upcoming visual artists is exhibited in an accessible manner. She is also business director of Alden Biesen Zomeropera, an opera festival that takes place every year in the months of May and June in the Landcommanderij Alden Biesen in Bilzen-Hoeselt in Limburg.
Joran Pollet (1993) graduated from Sint-Lucas Ghent in 2012 and then followed photography for a year (Narafi Brussels). However, it is the one-year course in decorative ironwork (GOCA Ghent) that forms the crucial stepping stone in his artistic development towards what he creates today. At that time Joran is 23 years old. Joran Pollet is a man of few words. His images are all the more powerful.
With hammer and anvil he beats pieces of pure steel into the desired shape. Then he starts welding. Without molds or preliminary studies.
Self-taught Brigitte Cauquil finds her inspiration in Provence, more specifically in the villages where the houses have been weathered by time and the walls bear the marks.
Her paintings exude this atmosphere. She uses marble powder, sand and similar materials as the underlying structure of the canvas. Afterwards she adds natural pigments from Provence and acrylic paint. The contrasts of rough and smooth, dark and light, coarse and fine result in a crackled surface. The colors lie on top or penetrate into the grooves and traces of the structure. The chosen color palette is authentic, the earth tones create a feeling of connection and tranquility.
Philip Verhoeven was spoon-fed art from an early age. He grew up in his parents' antique shop and started drawing at a young age.
The discovery of figurative art and his passion for color, graphics, history and music caused him to develop his own style. His works reflect his positive outlook on life.
Philip's paintings are exhibited in Brooklyn, New York, in London he is represented by Miart Gallery and in Philadelphia by Morton Contemporary. In February 2024 he will be a guest at the Art Wynwood Miami art fair.
Capturing the world, one artwork at a time
In the paintings of Nicole S. Pousset you will always find a soft, feminine undertone. Her portraits and landscapes are poetic and convey a hopeful, positive message. Something beautiful is just around the corner, sometime in the future. It is up to the viewer to fill in the blanks. An invitation to look further, to pause and reflect.
Glass is the material in which Kristina Smidts creates glowing, highly stylized convex figures. All these properties of the glass give her an extra dimension to her work. The inside, the heart, the interior of the images also receive attention.
In addition to glass, Kristina also likes to work with tin and baked clay sculptures.
Nature and infinity have fascinated Jan since childhood. That is why he tries to capture it with his watercolours. "They are pieces of the great puzzle that make up our world. An expression of emotion at the same time. It is a gift to be able to express yourself in image and word." After his art studies in Brussels, he exhibited in Antwerp, Bangkok, Paris, Fountainebleau and Mortsel. He lived in Paris, New York and Bangkok and later on returned to his native Antwerp.
Daniel Derderian's work is a unique cry for love from a safe environment behind the mirror. As a former classical dancer and performer in the world of the performing arts, he previously mainly worked with his appearance. Now he compiles idiosyncratic portraits that try to capture the confusion and vanity of human existence.
Daniel works from an urgency, torn between the moral brake of an adult and the unbounded imagination of a rambunctious child. He wants to keep something unfinished in his work, completion would mean the end of a dynamic.
He wants to capture his subjects in an intimate moment, in search of their strength, their fragility, their fear, their fantasies, as hybrid creatures in a world between reality and dream.
Since his first exhibition at Nobody & Friend in September 2022, Daniel has exhibited solo and in group at Galerie Thomé in Paris where he is now a resident artist and is part of the collective Le Destructuralisme Figuratif with which he exhibited in La Rochelle and Paris.
He works and lives between Montreuil near Paris, Ghent and Marseille, his hometown.
Volkstraat 62-64, 2000 Antwerp
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