KETELEER GALLERY is delighted to welcome you to this unique opening.

With some enthusiasm we present you our new BREMDONCK project, simultaneously with Antoine Roegier’s new solo exhibition Carnavals, which is completely in line with the history and identity of the newly restored 14^th century farm house. BREMDONCK has, together with Melkerij Peerdsbos, a very rich history of tenant farmers who, through time and wars, built their lives and stories there. It are these memories which KETELEER wants to honor by giving the neglected farm house a new dynamic social purpose, have it participate in its surroundings and nature again and by doing so, build on its history.

At this unique location, in the middle of the Peerdsbos forest of Brasschaat, the interaction between man, art and nature will set the tone. BREMDONCK will therefore focus mainly on exhibitions that fit within this narrative. Bar Liza, named after the horse who stood in this stable for many years, and the outside terrace invite the visitors to experience the gallery and garden at a slower tempo. With sustainability in mind, the grounds were completely redesigned: non-native trees and plants had to make way for a wild flower garden and frog pond to attract more insects, birds and small animals to re-strengthen the flora and fauna’s biodiversity. The surrounding nature also offers the opportunity to curate a new sculpture allowing nature to truly affect the art, and the art to affect nature.

Antoine Roegiers (°1980, Braine l’Alleud, Belgium. Lives and works in Paris, France) is a French painter with Belgian roots who, for the last years, focused completely on bringing to life the Old Masters like Rubens, Breughel, Bosch,… but also Ensor, whom he regards as his personal artistic fathers.

Through a combination of modern and old techniques, Roegiers transforms the old mystique for a new generation. In his new film Carnavals (2018) for example, he takes figures out of different famous Flemish paintings and brings them to life in his own wildly imaginative story. With his oil on panel or acrylic paint portraits, on the other hand, he isolates the figures from their original context to complete them to perfection or embellish them to the absurd turning them into unique characters with whole new lives. In other works, like Grande Place Vide (2019), the typical medieval landscapes, are shown eerily desolated. Perhaps the people have already left or are yet to come… and so the background becomes a stage for our own fantasy.

Like a child who plays make-believe, but with an exquisite technique, Roegiers takes over the world of the Old Masters, decontextualizes it, makes it into a new ‘reality’ and thus writes himself (sometimes literally: L’arrivée, 2019) and the present day into the story.

Lauren Wiggers, 2019.

The exhibition will be on view October 12^th, 2019 – January 5^th, 2020.
Visiting hours: Friday – Sunday, 12 – 7 pm.