Booth C21, Brussels, Tour & Taxis

Galerie Ron Mandos
Art Brussels 2019
Booth C21

Galerie Ron Mandos proudly presents Daniel Arsham, Hans Op de Beeck, Mohau Modisakeng, Troika, Renato Nicolodi, Levi van Veluw and Katinka Lampe. Their works represent some of the most prominent artistic currents of the moment. Dealing with the fragility of the constructs on which early 21st century society is based, the works range from the political to the nostalgic and show us how rapidly the world is changing. 

DANIEL ARSHAM
With an output ranging from drawing and sculpture to film and architecture, Daniel Arsham is a truly cross-disciplinary artist. Taking iconic objects from the millennial age as a starting point and rendering these in geological materials such as crystals and volcanic ash, he creates sculptures that seem familiar yet alienating. New in Arsham’s formal vocabulary are wrapped sculptures: pop cultural icons seemingly covered in fabric.

Daniel Arsham (US, 1980) is based in New York. His work has been shown at PS1, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami; The New Museum, New York; The Athens Biennale and Carré d’Art de Nîmes. He currently has a solo exhibition at Modern Contemporary Museum, Amsterdam.

HANS OP DE BEECK
The latest work of Hans Op de Beeck is inspired by Renaissance Wunderkammers: collections of seductive curiosities. Op de Beeck stripped the objects bare of their beguiling colors and glaze: everything is a monochrome, matte ash-grey. The artefacts resemble fossilized gems or archaeological finds. Op de Beeck reflects on our complex society and the universal questions of meaning and mortality that resonate within it.

Hans Op de Beeck (BE, 1969) is based in Brussels. Previous solo shows were held at i.a. Art  Unlimited,  Basel;  MOCA  Cleveland;  Sammlung  Goetz,  Munich and Tampa  Museum  of  Art.  The artist  has  participated  in  group  shows  at Royal  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Brussels;  PS1, NY; Centre  Pompidou, Paris; The  Reina  Sofia,  Madrid;  ZKM,  Karlsruhe;  MACRO,  Rome; the  Whitechapel  Art  Gallery,  London and many more.

MOHAU MODISAKENG
Multi-award  winning  artist Mohau  Modisakeng  explores  how  we  understand  cultural,  political  and  social  roles in  post-colonial  Africa. During Performa 17 he choreographed Zion: a  street  procession through  public  spaces in New York, related  to  the city’s African-American  communities. With  this  body of work Modisakeng  draws  parallels  between  experiences of  displacement  within  the  context of South  Africa’s  history  of  racial  segregation  and  forced  removals  with  the  current  global  climate  of mass  migration.

Mohau Modisakeng (SA, 1986) studied  at  the  Michaelis  School  of  Fine  Art,  Cape  Town. In  2015  and  2017 he represented  South  Africa  at  the  Venice  Biennale.  He  has  exhibited  at MOCADA, NY;  Zeitz  MOCAA, Cape Town  and  IZIKO  South  African  National  Gallery,  Cape  Town.  His  work  is  included  in  collections  such  as  the  Johannesburg  Art  Gallery;  Saatchi  Gallery,  London and Zeitz  MOCAA.

TROIKA
The collective Troika investigates the ways in which the digital world crosses over into the physical one and how technological advancement influences our lives. For the series Borrowed Light, they take colorful gradients on photographic film as a starting point. The choice for film betrays Troika’s interest in the evolution of image-making techniques. The series follows their large-scale installation Borrowed Light commissioned by The Barbican, London.

Troika is formed by Eva Rucki, Conny Freyer and Sebastien Noel. Their work is part of the permanent collections of M+, Hong Kong; the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; The Art Institute of Chicago; MoMA, New York; the Israel Museum, Jerusalem and Centre Pompidou, Paris. They produced installations for the UK Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo and their work Dark Matter was shown at Unlimited, Art Basel. Borrowed Light is currently on view at the Barbican.

RENATO NICOLODI

The paintings and sculptures of Renato Nicolodi refer to archetypical buildings from past times and cultures. By stripping them from their original function, ornament and dogma the artist creates monuments, relics, and shrines that function as visual anchors, inviting visitors to reflect and meditate. In his works, there always is an element of the unknown beyond that which is visible.

Renato Nicolodi (BE, 1980) received his education at the Higher Institute for Fine Arts, Gent, and Sint Lukas, Brussels. His work is included in the collections of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the provinces of Oost-Vlaanderen and Vlaams-Brabant; the city of Genk; Achmea and the former Design Vlaanderen, as well as in many international private collections.

LEVI VAN VELUW
In his recent work, Levi van Veluw investigates the relation between the rational, the spiritual and the material. Even if spirituality is ultimately immaterial, most people practice their faith in places of worship, using sacred objects and performing holy rituals. What is this human desire to add a tangible dimension to faith? Where does idolatry begin?

The work of Levi van Veluw (NL, 1985) is collected by numerous museums in The Netherlands and he made installations for clients such as Hermès. One-person exhibitions were held at Marres (NL, 2016) and Domaine de Kerguéhennec (FR, 2018). This year, the artist has solo exhibitions at Tenuta Dello Scompiglio (IT) and Museum Het Hem (NL). His exhibition Beyond Matter is on view at Galerie Ron Mandos until May 11th.

KATINKA LAMPE
Katinka Lampe explores questions of identity and origin. Inspired by the diversity on the streets of her home town Rotterdam and by Herman Pleij’s writings on identity, her new series of portraits takes on questions of appropriation, shared history and lived experience. Lush in tonality, the works stay true to the artist’s ethereal style of portraiture. Lampe: ‘My goal is to make connections. I want to question, unsettle, move, and comfort.’