© Nel Aerts, De averechtse val, color book, 24 x 33 cm, 150 + 50 ex. 

The young artist Nel Aerts (1987°) is known for the use of very divers media. She recently added painting to the ones she used before. She explains in De Witte Raaf (1) how the interaction of her colorful collages and the development of her recent paintings fascinates her. She talks about their common character of compaction in a visual language.

© Nel Aerts, Looking in Looking out, artistbook, 2012

An exposition of Jean Brusselmans and several iconic images from painters as Walter Swennen and Philip Guston directed her first wood paintings. 

The work of Aerts is at the same time playful and absurd, poetic and grotesque. She questions her world and position as a young artist. She is always somehow present in her work.

© Nel Aerts, Selfportrait (behind the mask), b/w photograph

(1) Koen Brams, Soetkin en Toon Beerten, Het begin van het kunstenaarschap: een gesprek met Nel Aerts. De Witte Raaf, jaargang 27, nr.161, p.19 (januari - februari 2013)

De averechtse val van Huize Frankendael - Nel Aerts

Frankendael Foundation, Amsterdam
19 januari - 24 maart 2013

© Mark Manders, Three Touched Numbers / Yellow Bathtub. (1999 - 2000) Pencil on paper / 65 x 50 cm / The Museum of Modern Art, New York (purchased with funds provided by The Buddy Taub Foundation, Jill and Dennis A. Roach, Directors) 

In the magazine Metropolis M of this month, Mark Manders talks about the focal points in his work. They are the most literally present in his drawings. For Manders they are a way of looking back in time. You can see the decisions he has taken. The lines go back to the focus. It makes you able to look inside the head of the artist. 

© Mark Manders, Several Drawings on Top of Each Other (1990–2002), Bronze, pencil on paper / Ca. 40 x 480 x 60 cm / Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (purchased with funds provided by The Buddy Taub Foundation, Jill and Dennis A. Roach, Directors)

On the other hand, Mark Manders explains how his work is constructed. It is extremely stylized, and at the same time you notice a sequence of actions.

In the context of his total oeuvre he also describes how his work generates new works. "(..) the next work is actually already decided in the previous work. A language that I can call on has developed which is completely separated from events in my life." He lets his work lead himself. (1)

© Mark Manders, Drawing with Vanishing Point / Drawing with Cemetery Horse (1998) / Pencil on paper / 50 x 65 cm / Collection de Bruin-Heijn, Wassenaar

(1) Behoorlijk Compleet. Interview by Nickel van Duijvenboden, Metropolis M, Volume 33, n.6, p 60-65 (2012 December - 2013 January)

© Hannelore Van Dijck, Le Plat Pays, charcoal floor drawing, Voorkamer, Lier, 2012

This summer I was just a few minutes too late to see the floor drawing from Hannelore Van Dijck on the opening of "Le Plat Pays" in De Voorkamer in Lier. The rain was fast. As a poetic action the weather decided after two dry weeks of working to erase the drawing in a short moment and to leave us with some black puddles. This time, it was not only the artist and the spectator who destroyed the image while observing, but nature was part of the process.

© Hannelore Van Dijck, Sea, charcoal wall drawing, Croxhapox, Ghent, 2012

Rests of black chalk on the floor stay part of the installations. In the end of the realization of the charcoal wall drawing in Croxhapox in Ghent, a black trace was left under the nose of the artist. Frank Maes wrote a beautiful text in "the Moustache" in Van Dijck's recent publication "So grün war mein Tal" (1).

 © Hannelore Van Dijck, Rain, charcoal floor drawing, Wetteren, 2011

(1) Hannelore Van Dijck, I.-XI. So grün war mein Tal. Posture Editions N°3 (2012).