THE QUIET BETWEEN THINGS
Ann Grillet — Chris Meulemans — Veroniek Van Samang
08.03 — 25.04.2026
Finissage: Saturday 25 April, 2-6pm
Eva Steynen Gallery presents The Quiet Between Things, a group exhibition featuring ceramic sculptures by Veroniek Van Samang (°1988), floral paintings by Chris Meulemans (°1967), and abstract paintings by Ann Grillet (°1961). Working across generations and media, the three artists share a sensitivity to material, form, and the spaces in which meaning takes shape subtly — without imposing itself — leaving room for imagination and for the viewer’s lived experience.
The Quiet Between Things points to an attentive mode of looking that runs throughout the exhibition. With a focus on matter, surface, gesture, and in-between space, the works invite a slowed encounter — an un-meeting, a quiet suspension of habitual recognition. The exhibition directs attention not only to pictorial space, but also to the indeterminate, hushed space around and between the works: between presence and absence, image and abstraction, touch, proximity and distance.
Veroniek Van Samang’s ceramic sculptures unfold as three-dimensional paintings, in which form, colour, and fragility emerge through a careful and tactile process. Chris Meulemans’ floral paintings hover between recognition and abstraction; motifs dissolve into rhythm, repetition, and chromatic cadence. Ann Grillet’s abstract paintings build meaning through subtle layers of colour, where transparency and density interact and structure gradually reveals itself to the attentive viewer.
From within their distinct practices, the three artists approach restraint as a generative force — a way of giving form room to breathe and of keeping meaning open. The Quiet Between Things proposes an exhibition that does not immediately disclose itself, but instead creates space for slow, attentive looking and embodied perception. The works unfold gradually, foregrounding a shared commitment to nuance, concentration, and material intelligence — inviting visitors to dwell in the in-between spaces where presence quietly takes shape.
(NL)
Eva Steynen Gallery presenteert The Quiet Between Things, een groepstentoonstelling met ceramische sculpturen van Veroniek Van Samang (°1988), florale schilderijen van Chris Meulemans (°1967) en abstracte schilderijen van Ann Grillet (°1961). De drie kunstenaars, werkend over generaties en media heen, delen een gevoeligheid voor materiaal, vorm en de ruimtes waar betekenis subtiel vorm krijgt, zonder zich op te dringen, ruimte latend voor de verbeelding en de ervaring van de toeschouwer.
The Quiet Between Things, verwijst naar een aandachtige houding die door de tentoonstelling heen loopt. Met aandacht voor materie, oppervlakte, geste en tussenruimte, nodigen de werken uit tot een vertraagde ontmoeting — een ont-moeten. De tentoonstelling richt het kijken niet enkel op de picturale ruimte, maar ook de onbepaalde - verstilde - ruimte ertussen en eromheen: tussen aanwezigheid en afwezigheid, beeld en abstractie, aanraking, dichtbij en veraf.
De keramische sculpturen van Veroniek Van Samang ontvouwen zich als drie-dimensionale schilderijen, waarin vorm, kleur en kwetsbaarheid ontstaan via een zorgvuldig en tactiel proces. De florale schilderijen van Chris Meulemans zweven tussen herkenning en abstractie; motieven vervagen in ritme, herhaling en chromatische cadans. De abstracte schilderijen van Ann Grillet bouwen betekenis op door subtiele lagen kleur, waarin transparantie en densiteit op elkaar interageren en structuur zich geleidelijk aan de aandachtige kijker openbaart.
Vanuit hun verschillende praktijken, hanteren de drie kunstenaars een zekere terughoudendheid als een generatieve kracht — een manier om vorm ademruimte te geven en betekenis open te houden. The Quiet Between Things biedt een tentoonstelling die zich niet onmiddelijk prijsgeeft, en ruimte creëert voor het trage, aandachtige kijken en belichaamde waarneming. De werken onthullen zich langzaam en benadrukken een gedeelde toewijding aan nuance, concentratie en materiaalintelligentie — en nodigen de bezoeker uit om stil te staan bij de tussenruimtes, waar aanwezigheid zich stilletjes vormt.
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About the artists
Ann Grillet
Ann Grillet’s paintings unfold through reduction, balance, and quiet precision. Her practice is rooted in a sustained investigation of colour, structure, and proportion, where each element is carefully weighed against the whole. Rather than imposing composition, Grillet allows it to emerge gradually through a process of attentive adjustment.
Working with restrained palettes and subtle tonal variations, she constructs pictorial spaces that appear both stable and open. Surfaces remain calm yet active: colour shifts almost imperceptibly, lines and planes interact with measured tension, and intervals between forms become as important as the forms themselves. The paintings reveal themselves slowly, rewarding sustained looking.
Grillet approaches painting as a process of concentration. Through layering, editing, and refinement, she distills her compositions to their essential relationships. What remains is a quiet but precise visual language in which colour and structure are held in delicate equilibrium.
The works resist immediate resolution. Instead, they offer a space of contemplation where perception unfolds over time. The viewer becomes aware of subtle balances between density and openness, presence and absence.
Within The Quiet Between Things, Grillet’s paintings articulate the exhibition’s central sensibility: a measured dialogue between restraint and presence, where meaning emerges through nuance rather than declaration.
Ann Grillet (b. 1961, Belgium) studied Monumental Painting at Sint-Lucas School of Arts in Ghent (1981–1985) . Since the mid-1980s she has presented her work in exhibitions in Belgium, including Antichambre (Ghent, 1986), Rond Hedendaagse Figuratie (Lommel, 1988), and more recently at Shoobil Gallery in Antwerp (Le Pluriel, 2021; Daytripper, 2024), Cecilia Jaime Gallery in Ghent (Unfolding, 2023), CC Zwaneberg in Heist-op-den-Berg (Par Hazzard, 2024), and Cultuurhuis de Bijl in Zoersel (Lacuna, 2025).
Chris Meulemans
Chris Meulemans’ paintings develop from a sustained engagement with the motif of flowers. Rather than approaching the subject descriptively, she uses it as a point of departure for an exploration of colour, rhythm, and pictorial structure. Through repetition and gradual reduction, the floral image shifts between recognition and abstraction.
Layers of paint accumulate, dissolve, and re-emerge across the canvas. Gestures remain controlled, and colour is carefully modulated, allowing luminosity to build slowly. What at first appears delicate reveals a complex structure of marks, tones, and subtle chromatic relationships.
Meulemans’ work is guided by an attentive process of looking and adjusting. Each painting evolves through cycles of addition and erasure, until the composition reaches a quiet equilibrium. The resulting surfaces retain traces of this process, giving the works a sense of depth and internal movement.
Although rooted in observation, the paintings ultimately move beyond representation. The floral motif becomes a vehicle for exploring how colour and gesture can generate atmosphere and rhythm within the pictorial field.
In The Quiet Between Things, Meulemans’ paintings introduce a luminous, almost breathing quality to the exhibition — works in which colour unfolds gradually and invites the viewer into a sustained, attentive encounter.
Chris Meulemans (b. 1967, B) lives and works in Kasterlee. She studied Photography at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp (1990) and obtained a Master in Fine Arts in Painting from Sint-Lucas School of Arts Antwerp in 1998. Her work has been presented in numerous exhibitions in Belgium and abroad, including Valerie Traan Gallery in Antwerp (Écriture Botanique, 2024), Shoobil Gallery in Antwerp (Natural Renaissance, 2022; Concrete Garden, 2020), Schönfeld Gallery in Brussels, and institutional venues such as Museum Dr. Guislain in Ghent and the Jakob Smits Museum in Mol. In 2018 she received an Honourable Mention at the Ronse Drawing Prize.
Veroniek Van Samang
In her ceramic sculptures, Veroniek Van Samang explores the relationship between balance, growth, and structural order. Her works are carefully constructed yet retain a sense of openness and vulnerability. Surfaces remain tactile, edges deliberate, and volumes finely calibrated, creating a quiet equilibrium in which forms appear stable yet never entirely fixed.
In the exhibition we show works out of the series Behind the Fence. This series consists of ceramic sculptures presented in combination with wooden supports, together forming a kind of sculptural garden. The works emerge from a layered visual language that is both repetitive and generative. Starting from collages of abstracted forms derived from nature, Van Samang develops sculptural structures that seem to expand outward, suggesting an organic and potentially endless universe.
Although firmly sculptural, the works can also be understood as spatial compositions that unfold much like paintings in three dimensions. Colour, surface, and rhythm interact across the ceramic elements, allowing the sculptures to be experienced as layered fields rather than closed volumes. This painterly sensibility is closely connected to Van Samang’s background: she obtained a Master in Fine Arts in painting at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp.
Van Samang gathers materials such as wood, plastic, paint, metal, and fragments of ceramic, combining them in new configurations. The resulting works reflect an ongoing negotiation between organic growth and human order, suggesting both the fragility of cultural structures and the enduring force of nature. In their quiet balance between expansion and restraint, these sculptures resonate closely with the sensibility that shapes The Quiet Between Things.
Veroniek Van Samang (b. 1988, Belgium) lives and works in Antwerp. She obtained a Master in Fine Arts (Painting) from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp in 2013 and completed an Advanced Master of Research in Art & Design at Sint-Lucas School of Arts Antwerp in 2019. In 2024 she completed a Master in Fine Arts (Ceramics) at PXL-MAD School of Arts in Hasselt. Her work has been presented in exhibitions including at the Gallo-Roman Museum in Tongeren, SMAK in Ghent, and various galleries and project spaces in Belgium.