Some things are clearly improving in the ‘Capital of Europe’ & its annual contemporary art fair is definitely one of these. Getting cooler year by year, don’t miss the change to see plenty of cutting edge art on this event starting right now.
Stands not to miss are the Amsterdam’s Grimm (with, amongst others, Nick van Woert and Matthew Day Jackson) and Ron Mandos Galleries (showing the fab trio Silvia B, Cindy Wright & Ron van der Ende). Plenty of great stuff from Belgium itself, including the Brussels-based Meessen de Clercq, Baronian-Francey, Aeroplastics, Tulips & Roses or Base-Alpha & Zeno X from Antwerp.
London, Paris, NY & LA have sent their top deputies too, with Lisson, Daniel Templon, Yvon Lambert, Lisa Cooley & Barbara Gladstone.
And much, much more, so we’re grabbing the camera & heading towards the Atomium!!

Our NY brother According to G visited the Marc Séguin show @ Mike Weiss Gallery this week and sent us this image of a drawing with a feather skull. At Happy Famous Artists we love skulls! Flipping through the pictures of the exhibition, it seems like one not to miss. The show is called “Failures” and pictures the darker side of humanity through near-photographic images in oil, charcoal, and ash on canvas. On display till April 30th. Thanks again to According to G for the tip & the image!

Bouke de Vries is a Dutch artist with a background in design and restoration of ceramics. On Art Cologne we saw a couple of his works on the booth of the Japanese gallery Super Window Project. There is something fascinating in this broken pieces approach: it turns what is broken into – in our eyes – even more beautiful objects and it transforms the old or even kitsch into something contemporary. #like!

Joris Van de Moortel gave Art Cologne a moment of rock ‘n roll coolness during a live performance on a self constructed stage. This Belgian artist in his late 20ies loves to create, destroy and re-create. The work is often linked to music and made us think of the spirit of the early years of Einstürzende Neubauten. Joris Van de Moortel has been shown on the big art fairs like The Armory Show and Volta. Enjoy some more pictures of the performance on the HFA Flickr

Last w/e we visited Art Cologne, enjoyed the great weather, stroll along the Rhine and another contemporary art fair of this year, with the usual suspects and some nice discoveries. As always, it was a pleasure to visit the booth of the Brussels gallery MSSNDCLRCQ. No shopping window mentality here but a carefully selected number of beautiful works. The work pictured above is “cerveau” by Evariste Richer and was our favorite piece. It is made out of a combination or pyrite – also nicknamed fool’s gold – and mosaic from Pompeii. The sculpture – with a weight equivalent to a human brain – “combines like this mischievously nature and culture…”
We look forward to the galleries’ selection of works on Art Brussels.