Melancholy, nostalgia, fragility or darkness, but without being sombre? Duality is probably key in the still young body of work of Gert Motmans. It balances between figurative and abstract, complexity and a – deceitful – simplicity.
The graduate from the royal academy of Fine Arts, visual artist and fashion designer puts his identity, personality, personal experiences and dreams first in his collages. Motmans’ pictures express a desire for another world. A longing for familiarity and nostalgia. At the same time his images seem to embrace a threatening, futuristic vision.

The fragile works seem to feed on romanticism as well as minimalism. It shows a sense of great tenderness and sensuality but also of apprehension,  a slight fear to possibly lose something.

As a visual artist and photographer, Bernadette Messiaen creates layered images using multiple graphic and photographic techniques that she employs with equal measures of freedom and spontaneity.

The artist usually makes use of shades of black, which she holds to be the deepest colour also leaving the most room for striking light. She explores the boundaries between presence and absence, between unfathomable depth and tenderness, between light and dark, between strength and fragility.

She erases the excess to arrive at the essence, in aesthetic images, which are sometimes overwhelmingly still.

ZILTES Art Book published by HOPPER&FUCHS

Elise Corten (b.1994) is a photographer based in Belgium. Elise’s practice primarily explores themes of intimacy, identity and memory through long term photo projects.
The concept of family plays a central role in her work.

Elise holds a master’s degree in visual arts from LUCA School of Arts, Belgium. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at home and abroad and can be found in several publications. It has also been internationally reviewed and awarded.

Monique Thomaes, born in 1942

A Belgian artist, she has been working in Berlin since 1988, after living in the Netherlands for 20 years. Following a fine arts education (sculpture and installation) in The Hague, Monique Thomaes studied education and pedagogy at the Academy of Visual Arts in Rotterdam.

Berlin has had a major influence on her work. That influence is reflected in a transition from sculpture to spatial installations.Through various further studies, research and experiments, Thomaes’ work has expanded into the fields of photographic, slide, light and video installations.
Meditative, slow, poetic works alternate with works in which image and sound are transformed into dynamic choreographies through the use and misuse of montage techniques.

In addition, the artist works with artificial light and reflections. Displays with poetic text used in public spaces are another focal point, as are video stills translated into monumental photo series.