Ladies First
Diane Bogaerts
Carina Gosselé
Tinka Pittoors
Laurence Plumier
19.01 - 01.03.2025
With Ladies First, Eva Steynen Gallery gives a wink to gallantry by dedicating this first exhibition of the year entirely to female artists.
In a time of gender neutrality and the importance of the #metoo movement, the term seems somewhat provocative. But in a world where the big leading powers are still in the hands of men, it is once again more than relevant.
Four women with different careers and varied practices: sculpture, painting, performance and textiles.
Nature, bodies, movement, emotion and transience are the basis of their work.
During the opening and closing of the exhibition Carina Gosselé presented her performance 'The Hare the Other and Me' - Part 1 and 2
audio-scape by Timo Carlier
DIANE BOGAERTS
(°1946, lives and works in Antwerp)
Diane Bogaerts' body of work consists of large oil-paintings and collages on paper. Her paintings offer the artist's reflections on nature and human physicality. Referring to the physical flows in nature and life that overcomes one and the temporality of our existence. They are about memories of landscapes and the research itself about painting. Explore notions of memory and imagination through a poetic approach to stillness and movement. The works arise on the canvas from memory or intuition. Looking is the most important part of the process. Concentrate on the nature of each brushstroke, its impulse, speed and direction. It is the constant search that forces her to continue working, much more than finding a neat solution. Letting the work arise naturally within the adventure of painting.
Diane Bogaerts was almost 50, when starting her career as a painter. Her first exhibition was in 1992. Many will follow in Belgium and abroad. Her work is in various collections and was on view a.o. :Galerie Grusenmeyer, Deurle (BE), Galerie ABC, Brussels (BE), Galerie Anita Shapolsky, New-York (USA), Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (B), Gallery Dufon & Racz, Bern (CH). Diane Bogaerts’s works are in different collections and have been exhibited with Andrea Nyffeler and Max Roth.
CARINA GOSSELÉ
(1963 B, lives and works in Antwerp)
Video screening “5 O'Clock Shadowshow: The Hare, The Others and Me” the performance by Carina Gosselé during the opening of the exhibition.
For the occasion of the finissage Gosselé will perform live the second part of "The Hare, The Others and Me”. In this second part the two characters - The Hare and the White Lady - embody the state of in-betweennes. As ethereal guides the move along the boundaries between human and animal, magic and reality. In this transitional space, where one flows in the other, the explore the dividing lines between the familiar and the uncanny.
This performance is situated at the intersection of tradition and identity, asking how social and cultural programming shapes us and how we can respond to it. It invites the audience to connect with hybrid beings and reflect on themes of transformation.
A life-size, mythical, hybrid ragdoll moves and dances with a White Lady, a supernatural figure rooted in European folklore. The performance unfolds in a ritual progression: applying make-up and transforming into the White Lady. The work is both a visual and experiential meditation on the “others and me”, an investigation into self-hood, myth and connection. (With a soundscape by Timo Carlier.)
Performance artist Carina Gosselé works with the accumulation and moderation of residue from previous art projects; referring to herself from the outside-in through role playing; the gap between planned and spontaneous action; and memory used not only as source material, but as material in and of itself to be (re)shaped by the artist, are amongst the strategies found in Carina Gosselé’s work.
Carina Gosselé holds a degree in Fina Arts Royal Academy of Antwerp (1983-'87), studied at University of Fine Arts, Santa Cruz, Tenerife, Spain (1989-'90), Higher Institute Of Fine Arts, Antwerp, Belgium (1987-'90), The Art Students League, New York City, USA (1992) and D.K.O. video and film, Antwerp, Belgium (1999 -2004). She exhibited sinds 1989 in Belgium and abroad with former gallery Dagmar Depooter she was presented at several international art fairs. Recent perfromences/interventions include: The Artist Under The Table , Part II Royal Academy of Fine Arts (B), Positions Berlin BERLIN (D) by CELLULE COMBATTANTE (with Christine Clinckx), Thinking About It, MuHKA / NICC, Antwerp (B) with Michael Laird, SecondRoom Expo Antwerp (B) Duo-Expo with Tom Poelmans.
TINKA PITTOORS
(°1977, lives and works in Antwerp)
In collaboration with Galerie La Forest Divonne (Brussels & Paris)
Anyone who has ever visited an exhibition by Tinka Pittoors (°1977) knows: you are not looking at autonomous, separately arranged, beautifully framed or placed on classical pedestals art objects, you are undergoing an experience. You walk in, through or around installations, environments, atmospheres, dream worlds.
Tinka Pittoors works with all possible materials. She searches for and finds all those objects in daily life: banal and utilitarian in themselves, but if you give them a twist, as she does, they get a completely different, new context and meaning. She does something similar with the colours: everything appears fresh, bright and cheerful. But through that apparent lightness she reaches out to the viewer to lure him in and then pull him into the darkness with a lurch. Underneath the light, pleasantly disturbed layers lurk discomfort and unrest.
A landscape is full of harmony and contradiction, because man literally and figuratively keeps house in it. Tinka Pittoors rethinks and reconstructs these landscapes as a patchwork, with a colorful mix of colors, materials and movements, in which both the utopian and the human play their part. The combination of recognizable with self-invented elements creates a parallel world, a 'condition humaine' for a new visual language. Pittoors, like Alice in Wonderland, makes it clear how cheerfulness and menace can go together. Marc Ruyters, 2024
Tinka Pittoors (lives and works in Antwerp) exhibits since 2005 She has shown in MUKHA Antwerp, SMAK Gent, MMuseum Leuven, Museum aan Zee Den Haag, BAM Mons, Palais d’Iéna, Mol Kiest Kunst, CBK Zeeland, Sidney Biennial,…Recently her work was on view at Art Antwerp, Galerie La Forest Divonne (Paris & Brussels), Kstwrk, Edegen (B), Chateau de Seneffe, Nivelle(B), Cloud Seven, Brussels (B).
LAURENCE PLUMIER
(°1968, Liège (B), lives and works in Antwerp)
The work on paper by Laurence Plumier is striking in its uniqueness in colour. She gives colourful masked figures their own poetic life on paper. With a healthy dose of humour, she also creates a very personal visual language in her textile works. She draws her inspiration from the power of fashion, film, subcultures and fairy tales in which the magical aura of clothing is emphasised.
Starting from 'pure' thread, Plumier constructs three-dimensional crocheted works that acquire sculptural properties. The texture of these works plays an important role in this, in which a transformation takes place from the soft yarn to a constructed pattern.
Laurence Plumier holds Master 's degree in Fine Arts, Sint-Lucas Antwerp (2010) and studied Fine Arts (Painting) pat Royal Academy of Antwerp (1986-1990). Recent exhibitions include: 2024 Groupshow at Dingen Die niet verkopen, Antwerp (B), Solo show ‘Drôles d’ oiseaux’ SECONDroom, Antwerp (B), Sculpture Ball curated by Fleur de Roeck & Eva Van Bemmelen, Antwerp (B), ‘Kleine sculptuur’ CCZwanenberg, Heist op de Berg (B), ‘Signé anonyme’ centre OYOU culture Marchin (B), Group show ‘An ideal for living’, Second Room during Antwerp Art, Antwerp (B), Solo show Vitrine K1 Warp Art, curated by Stef Van Belllingen, Sint-Niklaas (B), Group show ‘The Poodle show’, Westend Project, Den Haag (NL)
Installation views
