Curated by Nina Bovasso

Participating artists: Philip Akkerman (NL), Chris Baaten (NL), Charlotte Beaudry (BE), Lorenza Boisi (IT), Aline Bouvy & John Gillis (LUX/BE), Kathe Burkhart (US/NL), Michael Dans (BE) Eugenie Goldschmeding (NL), Melissa Gordon (US/BE), Arjan van Helmond (NL), Marijn Van Kreij (NL), Bas Meerman (NL), Serge Onnen (NL), Benoît Platéus (BE), Peter Schuyff (NL), Lily van der Stokker (NL), Frans van Tartwijk (NL), Marianne Theunissen (NL), Rinus van de Velde (BE), and Evi Vingerling (NL)

For our first show of the new year, Virgil de Voldere Gallery is proud to present I love the BeNeLux, a group exhibition which includes the work of 20 artists from Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Curated by artist Nina Bovasso, a native of New York City now residing in the Netherlands, Bovasso has chosen to take the acronym Benelux and draw here a parallel with the literal Latin translation of the word, as to what defines contemporary art in this region. Upon first hearing the term Benelux, not initially recognizing it as an acronym for the 3 countries, Bovasso made the assumption that the geographically defining term Bene Lux or beautiful light, was created in reference to the idea of light in “Netherlandish” painting.

She continues: As I find myself now living in the place of the favored light, where the dialogue of contemporary art takes on largely an international constituency, I find it difficult to define regional particulars. I have thus decided to use the semantics of the Latin as a psychological idea that carries a thread throughout much of the work I have seen here. Humor for one thing plays a role in giving buoyancy to the otherwise morbid. Curiosity, a regard toward the unencumbered gesture, and the decision of either taking on or ignore a rich & lengthy history, waylay any predisposition to nihilism. I have selected the participants in this show based on my encounters with artists or works of art within, and relating to the Benelux, that have persisted to stay under my radar.

Much of the work here is concerned with re writing histories. The historical, personal and the invented intermingle. All of the artists in this exhibition deal in the handmade, and offer up their subjectivity through concepts dealing with abstracted form.