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Marlene Dumas
Selected works

● Marlene Dumas

Selected works

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Marlene Dumas
News

Marlene Dumas at Palazzo Grassi, Venice

OPEN-END.

Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy
October 20, 2021 – January 2, 2022

ZENO X GALLERY - Marlene Dumas at Palazzo Grassi, Venice

Marlene Dumas: new publication

CHARLES BAUDELAIRE - LE SPLEEN DE PARIS
ILLUSTRATED BY MARLENE DUMAS

Translations by Hafid Bouazza
Published by Querido, 2022

ZENO X GALLERY - Marlene Dumas: new publication

Marlene Dumas at Musée d’Orsay, Paris

LE SPLEEN DE PARIS

Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France
October 11, 2021 – January 30, 2022

ZENO X GALLERY - Marlene Dumas at Musée d’Orsay, Paris

Marlene Dumas at Munch Museum, Oslo

MOONRISE. MARLENE DUMAS & EDVARD MUNCH

Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway
September 29 - January 13, 2019

ZENO X GALLERY - Marlene Dumas at Munch Museum, Oslo

Marlene Dumas at Albertinum, Dresden

SKULLS

Albertinum, Dresden, Germany
October 19, 2017 - January 14, 2018

 

ZENO X GALLERY - Marlene Dumas at Albertinum, Dresden

● Marlene Dumas

News

Marlene Dumas
Biography

Marlene Dumas, b. 1953 in Cape Town (ZA), lives and works in Amsterdam (NL).

Known for her unique approach to canvas and for her thought-provoking subject matter, Marlene Dumas is widely considered one of today’s most important painters. Her work is characterized by a sensual and gestural technique that is swift, dry and minimal, as if under pressure to leave only what is necessary. Although she lives and works in the Netherlands, the artist was born and raised in South Africa, and her paintings have often drawn on her own experience of living under apartheid. For more than thirty years, Dumas has merged political discourse, personal experience and art-historical references in a richly layered body of work. Her paintings integrate complex themes – ranging from segregation, eroticism and, more generally, the politics of love and war – to explore how image-making is implicitly involved not only in the cultural processes of objectification, but also in the way in which events are documented and collectively understood.

Marlene Dumas has had solo exhibitions at Palazzo Grassi (Venice), Fondation Beyeler (Basel), MoMA (New York), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), The Menil Collection (Houston), Haus der Kunst (Munich), The Art Institute of Chicago, Centre Pompidou (Paris), ICA Boston, Museum of Contemporary Art (Tokyo), MOCA (Los Angeles) and Tate Modern (London).

Marlene Dumas participated in documenta in 1982 and 1992. In 1995 she represented the Netherlands at the Venice Biennale. Her work has featured in group shows at MCA Chicago, Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven), MASP (São Paulo), Fondazione Prada (Milan), MUNCH (Oslo), Kunsthaus Graz, National Portrait Gallery (London), WIELS (Brussels) and SFMOMA (San Francisco).

Marlene Dumas joined the gallery in 1993.

● Marlene Dumas

Biography

Marlene Dumas
Photo
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Mounira Al Solh, Strauss Bourque-LaFrance, Miriam Cahn, Marlene Dumas, Mary Heilmann, Sanya Kantarovsky, Leah Ke Yi Zheng, Moshekwa Langa, Rosalind Nashashibi, Anh Trần, Jack Whitten, Dan Zhu
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Soul Mapping
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp Borgerhout | 16.09 - 28.10 2023
Mounira Al Solh, Strauss Bourque-LaFrance, Miriam Cahn, Marlene Dumas, Mary Heilmann, Sanya Kantarovsky, Leah Ke Yi Zheng, Moshekwa Langa, Rosalind Nashashibi, Anh Trần, Jack Whitten, Dan Zhu
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Soul Mapping
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp Borgerhout | 16.09 - 28.10 2023
Mounira Al Solh, Strauss Bourque-LaFrance, Miriam Cahn, Marlene Dumas, Mary Heilmann, Sanya Kantarovsky, Leah Ke Yi Zheng, Moshekwa Langa, Rosalind Nashashibi, Anh Trần, Jack Whitten, Dan Zhu
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Soul Mapping
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp Borgerhout | 16.09 - 28.10 2023
Mounira Al Solh, Strauss Bourque-LaFrance, Miriam Cahn, Marlene Dumas, Mary Heilmann, Sanya Kantarovsky, Leah Ke Yi Zheng, Moshekwa Langa, Rosalind Nashashibi, Anh Trần, Jack Whitten, Dan Zhu
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Soul Mapping
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp Borgerhout | 16.09 - 28.10 2023
exhibition

● Zeno X Gallery exhibition

Mounira Al Solh, Strauss Bourque-LaFrance, Miriam Cahn, Marlene Dumas, Mary Heilmann, Sanya Kantarovsky, Leah Ke Yi Zheng, Moshekwa Langa, Rosalind Nashashibi, Anh Trần, Jack Whitten, Dan Zhu
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Soul Mapping
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp Borgerhout | 16.09 - 28.10 2023
1/27
Strauss Bourque-LaFrance, Raoul De Keyser, Marlene Dumas, Marina Rheingantz, Salman Toor, Luc Tuymans, Jack Whitten
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Soul Mapping
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp South | 16.09 - 28.10 2023
Strauss Bourque-LaFrance, Raoul De Keyser, Marlene Dumas, Marina Rheingantz, Salman Toor, Luc Tuymans, Jack Whitten
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Soul Mapping
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp South | 16.09 - 28.10 2023
Strauss Bourque-LaFrance, Raoul De Keyser, Marlene Dumas, Marina Rheingantz, Salman Toor, Luc Tuymans, Jack Whitten
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Soul Mapping
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp South | 16.09 - 28.10 2023
Strauss Bourque-LaFrance, Raoul De Keyser, Marlene Dumas, Marina Rheingantz, Salman Toor, Luc Tuymans, Jack Whitten
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Soul Mapping
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp South | 16.09 - 28.10 2023
exhibition

● Zeno X Gallery exhibition

Strauss Bourque-LaFrance, Raoul De Keyser, Marlene Dumas, Marina Rheingantz, Salman Toor, Luc Tuymans, Jack Whitten
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Soul Mapping
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp South | 16.09 - 28.10 2023
1/11
Marlene Dumas, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven
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Museum in beweging
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M HKA, Antwerp, Belgium | 15.09 2022 - 08.01 2023
Marlene Dumas, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven
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Museum in beweging
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M HKA, Antwerp, Belgium | 15.09 2022 - 08.01 2023
Marlene Dumas, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven
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Museum in beweging
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M HKA, Antwerp, Belgium | 15.09 2022 - 08.01 2023
Marlene Dumas, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven
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Museum in beweging
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M HKA, Antwerp, Belgium | 15.09 2022 - 08.01 2023
exhibition

● group exhibition

Marlene Dumas, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven
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Museum in beweging
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M HKA, Antwerp, Belgium | 15.09 2022 - 08.01 2023
1/3
Dirk Braeckman, Anton Corbijn, Marlene Dumas, Johannes Kahrs, Mark Manders, Luc Tuymans, Cristof Yvoré
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40 Years Zeno X Gallery - the nineties
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp South | 02.04 - 20.08 2022
Dirk Braeckman, Anton Corbijn, Marlene Dumas, Johannes Kahrs, Mark Manders, Luc Tuymans, Cristof Yvoré
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40 Years Zeno X Gallery - the nineties
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp South | 02.04 - 20.08 2022
Dirk Braeckman, Anton Corbijn, Marlene Dumas, Johannes Kahrs, Mark Manders, Luc Tuymans, Cristof Yvoré
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40 Years Zeno X Gallery - the nineties
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp South | 02.04 - 20.08 2022
Dirk Braeckman, Anton Corbijn, Marlene Dumas, Johannes Kahrs, Mark Manders, Luc Tuymans, Cristof Yvoré
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40 Years Zeno X Gallery - the nineties
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp South | 02.04 - 20.08 2022
exhibition

● Zeno X Gallery exhibition

Dirk Braeckman, Anton Corbijn, Marlene Dumas, Johannes Kahrs, Mark Manders, Luc Tuymans, Cristof Yvoré
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40 Years Zeno X Gallery - the nineties
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp South | 02.04 - 20.08 2022
1/18

● 40 Years Zeno X Gallery - the nineties

 

Zeno X Gallery is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a series of exhibitions that shed light on the different decades of the gallery. From April 2 onwards, '40 YEARS Zeno X Gallery: the nineties' presents the seven artists who joined the gallery in the 1990s: Luc Tuymans (1990), Marlene Dumas (1993), Mark Manders (1994), Cristof Yvoré (1994), Anton Corbijn (1996), Dirk Braeckman (1999) and Johannes Kahrs (1999). The show brings historical works into dialogue with recent pieces created specially for this exhibition.

Marlene Dumas
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open-end
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Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy | 27.03 2022 - 08.01 2023
Marlene Dumas
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open-end
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Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy | 27.03 2022 - 08.01 2023
Marlene Dumas
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open-end
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Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy | 27.03 2022 - 08.01 2023
Marlene Dumas
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open-end
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Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy | 27.03 2022 - 08.01 2023
exhibition

● Solo exhibition

Marlene Dumas
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open-end
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Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy | 27.03 2022 - 08.01 2023
1/8
Marlene Dumas
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Edvard Munch. In Dialogue
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Albertina, Vienna, Austria | 18.02 - 26.06 2022
Marlene Dumas
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Edvard Munch. In Dialogue
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Albertina, Vienna, Austria | 18.02 - 26.06 2022
Marlene Dumas
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Edvard Munch. In Dialogue
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Albertina, Vienna, Austria | 18.02 - 26.06 2022
Marlene Dumas
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Edvard Munch. In Dialogue
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Albertina, Vienna, Austria | 18.02 - 26.06 2022
exhibition

● group exhibition

Marlene Dumas
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Edvard Munch. In Dialogue
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Albertina, Vienna, Austria | 18.02 - 26.06 2022
1/8
Marlene Dumas
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Le Spleen de Paris
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Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France | 11.10 2021 - 30.01 2022
Marlene Dumas
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Le Spleen de Paris
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Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France | 11.10 2021 - 30.01 2022
Marlene Dumas
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Le Spleen de Paris
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Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France | 11.10 2021 - 30.01 2022
Marlene Dumas
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Le Spleen de Paris
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Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France | 11.10 2021 - 30.01 2022
exhibition

● Solo exhibition

Marlene Dumas
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Le Spleen de Paris
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Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France | 11.10 2021 - 30.01 2022
1/10
Marlene Dumas, Luc Tuymans
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Ouverture
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Bourse de Commerce, Paris, France | 22.05 2021 - 15.05 2022
Marlene Dumas, Luc Tuymans
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Ouverture
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Bourse de Commerce, Paris, France | 22.05 2021 - 15.05 2022
Marlene Dumas, Luc Tuymans
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Ouverture
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Bourse de Commerce, Paris, France | 22.05 2021 - 15.05 2022
Marlene Dumas, Luc Tuymans
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Ouverture
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Bourse de Commerce, Paris, France | 22.05 2021 - 15.05 2022
exhibition

● group exhibition

Marlene Dumas, Luc Tuymans
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Ouverture
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Bourse de Commerce, Paris, France | 22.05 2021 - 15.05 2022
1/4
Marlene Dumas
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Double Takes
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp Borgerhout | 27.05 - 10.10 2020
Marlene Dumas
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Double Takes
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp Borgerhout | 27.05 - 10.10 2020
Marlene Dumas
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Double Takes
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp Borgerhout | 27.05 - 10.10 2020
Marlene Dumas
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Double Takes
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp Borgerhout | 27.05 - 10.10 2020
exhibition

● Zeno X Gallery exhibition

Marlene Dumas
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Double Takes
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp Borgerhout | 27.05 - 10.10 2020
1/27

● Double Takes

 

Zeno X Gallery is pleased to present the new exhibition by Marlene Dumas. Double Takes marks the 25th anniversary of the artist’s collaboration with the gallery and is her fifth solo exhibition at Zeno X Gallery. 

double take (noun):

a delayed reaction to a surprising or significant situation after initial failure to notice anything unusual – usually used in the phrase ‘do a double take’

an act of quickly looking at something that is surprising or unusual a second time after looking at it a moment earlier

For more than thirty years already, Marlene Dumas has used her paintings and drawings to touch upon existential subjects that often refer to art-historical motifs and topical political subjects. She has been inspired by images found in magazines and newspapers as well as by personal photographs which she has taken of her loved ones. Through her work she tries to explore the social, psychological and emotional aspects of images.

The title Double Takes refers not only to the relevance of taking a second look at something, but also to the importance of ambivalence and of mutual influence. In addition, Double Takes suggests that the exhibition can be divided up into two themes. Some of the works were inspired by – and are also in the spirit of – Charles Baudelaire’s Le Spleen de Paris. Other works consist mainly of portraits of people from the artist’s immediate surroundings as well as of portraits of ‘icons’.

Some time ago Marlene Dumas was asked by the writer Hafid Bouazza to illustrate his Dutch translation of Charles Baudelaire’s Le Spleen de Paris. A few years earlier she had created pictures for his translation of Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis, pictures which David Zwirner exhibited in New York in 2018 in the exhibition Myths & Mortals. While Shakespeare’s poem foregrounds eroticism, melancholy and the passing of time are central in the works now on display in the gallery.

Baudelaire’s most famous collection of poems, Les Fleurs du Mal, was immediately censored upon publication on account of its contents, which were considered immoral and scandalous. Le Spleen de Paris, which the poet worked on for ten years, appeared posthumously. It is closely related thematically to his previous publication: mortality, the hustle and bustle of city life, crowds, and the pleasures of the flesh are all dealt with in a morbid but humorous style.

Some of the paintings in the exhibition freely depict the characters and objects from these fifty prose poems, such as Le Désespoir de la Vieille and Le Joujou du Pauvre. The painting Bottle attempts to represent the contradictions so inherent to Baudelaire’s worldview:

In this reduced world, so full of disgust, just one familiar object consoles me: the phial of laudanum, old and frightful mistress - and like all lovers, alas, abundant with caresses and betrayals. (‘The Double Room’, translation Martin Sorrell)

Other paintings, such as The Making Of, Time and Chimera and The Origin of Painting, rather represent imaginary figures or abstract moods even, states of mind inspired by the stories. Chance played an important role in these large works: Dumas placed the canvases on the floor and let the paint interact with the surface in an unpremeditated manner. On account of their genesis, and in formal terms too, the works follow naturally from her ink drawings.  

For its part, Jeanne Duval is a portrait of Charles Baudelaire’s Haitian lover and muse, to whom he devoted several poems in this series and who was famous for her luxuriant hairdos.

The other group of works consists mainly of portraits of people from the artist’s immediate surroundings as well as portraits of ‘icons’. For instance, Dumas painted the famous Nefertiti Bust, on display at the Neues Museum in Berlin. What is special about this bust are the colourful pigments on the porous limestone and the missing inlay in the left eye. Lady of Uruk depicts the ‘Mask of Warka’, which dates from 3100 BC and is believed to be one of the oldest representations of the human face. The marble face is in the National Museum of Iraq and probably represents a goddess. 

Portraits such as Helena and Eden and Shèrkènt and Eden bear witness to the intimate bond between the artist and the portrayed: they are her daughter, son-in-law and grandson.

The painting reproduced on the invitation, De acteur, is a portrait of the Dutch actor Romana Vrede. In 2017 she won the ‘Theo d’Or’ acting award, whose winners receive a portrait by an artist of their choice. Vrede thus contacted Dumas, who ultimately made not one, but five portraits of the actor. Two of these paintings are included in this exhibition. They show Vrede’s versatility: The Performer shows the actor on stage, while De acteur emphasizes the androgynous expressivity of her face.

Lastly, the exhibition also includes works that connect both categories more explicitly. For instance, Hafid Bouazza is related to Baudelaire, but it is also a painting of a good friend. Likewise, the rat that features in Baudelaire’s poems can also serve as a symbol of the current pandemic. All paintings are related to different individuals: the writer, the actress, but also the gallerist. Dumas connects all the works in one way or another – to see how, you might need to do a double take.

Marlene Dumas (b. 1953 in Cape Town, lives and works in Amsterdam) has had solo exhibitions at Fondation Beyeler in Basel, Tate Modern in London, Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Haus der Kunst in Munich, The Menil Collection in Houston, MoMA in New York, MOCA in Los Angeles, MOT in Tokyo, the Art Institute of Chicago, Centre Pompidou in Paris, MMK in Frankfurt, among others.

The catalogue published on the occasion of this exhibition presents an overview of all the works that have been shown during the 25 years of the artist’s collaboration with Zeno X Gallery. Since 1993 Dumas has presented five solo exhibitions in the gallery, respectively titled Give the People What They Want, Time and Again, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Twice (a duo exhibition with Luc Tuymans) and Double Takes. The catalogue also includes texts by the artist to accompany her exhibitions as well as newspaper articles and archival photographs. 

Michaël Borremans, N. Dash, Marlene Dumas, Kees Goudzwaard, Mark Manders, Hyun-Sook Song, Luc Tuymans, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven
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Works on Paper
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp Borgerhout | 29.01 - 14.03 2020
Michaël Borremans, N. Dash, Marlene Dumas, Kees Goudzwaard, Mark Manders, Hyun-Sook Song, Luc Tuymans, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven
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Works on Paper
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp Borgerhout | 29.01 - 14.03 2020
Michaël Borremans, N. Dash, Marlene Dumas, Kees Goudzwaard, Mark Manders, Hyun-Sook Song, Luc Tuymans, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven
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Works on Paper
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp Borgerhout | 29.01 - 14.03 2020
Michaël Borremans, N. Dash, Marlene Dumas, Kees Goudzwaard, Mark Manders, Hyun-Sook Song, Luc Tuymans, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven
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Works on Paper
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp Borgerhout | 29.01 - 14.03 2020
exhibition

● Zeno X Gallery exhibition

Michaël Borremans, N. Dash, Marlene Dumas, Kees Goudzwaard, Mark Manders, Hyun-Sook Song, Luc Tuymans, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven
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Works on Paper
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Zeno X Gallery Antwerp Borgerhout | 29.01 - 14.03 2020
1/22
Marlene Dumas
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Moonrise. Marlene Dumas & Edvard Munch
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The Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway | 29.09 2018 - 13.01 2019
Marlene Dumas
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Moonrise. Marlene Dumas & Edvard Munch
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The Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway | 29.09 2018 - 13.01 2019
Marlene Dumas
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Moonrise. Marlene Dumas & Edvard Munch
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The Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway | 29.09 2018 - 13.01 2019
Marlene Dumas
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Moonrise. Marlene Dumas & Edvard Munch
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The Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway | 29.09 2018 - 13.01 2019
exhibition

● group exhibition

Marlene Dumas
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Moonrise. Marlene Dumas & Edvard Munch
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The Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway | 29.09 2018 - 13.01 2019
1/5
Dirk Braeckman, Marlene Dumas, Kim Jones, Mark Manders, Philip Metten, Pietro Roccasalva, Hyun-Sook Song, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Jack Whitten
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Works on Paper II
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Zeno X Gallery | 07.03 - 28.04 2018
Dirk Braeckman, Marlene Dumas, Kim Jones, Mark Manders, Philip Metten, Pietro Roccasalva, Hyun-Sook Song, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Jack Whitten
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Works on Paper II
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Zeno X Gallery | 07.03 - 28.04 2018
Dirk Braeckman, Marlene Dumas, Kim Jones, Mark Manders, Philip Metten, Pietro Roccasalva, Hyun-Sook Song, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Jack Whitten
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Works on Paper II
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Zeno X Gallery | 07.03 - 28.04 2018
Dirk Braeckman, Marlene Dumas, Kim Jones, Mark Manders, Philip Metten, Pietro Roccasalva, Hyun-Sook Song, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Jack Whitten
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Works on Paper II
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Zeno X Gallery | 07.03 - 28.04 2018
exhibition

● Zeno X Gallery exhibition

Dirk Braeckman, Marlene Dumas, Kim Jones, Mark Manders, Philip Metten, Pietro Roccasalva, Hyun-Sook Song, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Jack Whitten
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Works on Paper II
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Zeno X Gallery | 07.03 - 28.04 2018
1/30
Jan De Maesschalck, Marlene Dumas, Susan Hartnett, Johannes Kahrs, John Körmeling, Jockum Nordström, Pietro Roccasalva, Luc Tuymans, Jack Whitten
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Works on Paper II
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Zeno X Gallery | 21.01 - 28.02 2015
Jan De Maesschalck, Marlene Dumas, Susan Hartnett, Johannes Kahrs, John Körmeling, Jockum Nordström, Pietro Roccasalva, Luc Tuymans, Jack Whitten
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Works on Paper II
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Zeno X Gallery | 21.01 - 28.02 2015
Jan De Maesschalck, Marlene Dumas, Susan Hartnett, Johannes Kahrs, John Körmeling, Jockum Nordström, Pietro Roccasalva, Luc Tuymans, Jack Whitten
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Works on Paper II
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Zeno X Gallery | 21.01 - 28.02 2015
Jan De Maesschalck, Marlene Dumas, Susan Hartnett, Johannes Kahrs, John Körmeling, Jockum Nordström, Pietro Roccasalva, Luc Tuymans, Jack Whitten
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Works on Paper II
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Zeno X Gallery | 21.01 - 28.02 2015
exhibition

● Zeno X Gallery exhibition

Jan De Maesschalck, Marlene Dumas, Susan Hartnett, Johannes Kahrs, John Körmeling, Jockum Nordström, Pietro Roccasalva, Luc Tuymans, Jack Whitten
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Works on Paper II
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Zeno X Gallery | 21.01 - 28.02 2015
1/37
Marlene Dumas
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Marlene Dumas: The Image as Burden
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Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands | 05.09 2014 - 04.01 2015
Marlene Dumas
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Marlene Dumas: The Image as Burden
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Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands | 05.09 2014 - 04.01 2015
Marlene Dumas
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Marlene Dumas: The Image as Burden
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Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands | 05.09 2014 - 04.01 2015
Marlene Dumas
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Marlene Dumas: The Image as Burden
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Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands | 05.09 2014 - 04.01 2015
exhibition

● Solo exhibition

Marlene Dumas
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Marlene Dumas: The Image as Burden
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Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands | 05.09 2014 - 04.01 2015
1/11

● Marlene Dumas: The Image as Burden

 

curator: Leontine Coelewij

Marlene Dumas
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Manifesta 10
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The State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia | 28.06 - 31.10 2014
Marlene Dumas
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Manifesta 10
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The State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia | 28.06 - 31.10 2014
Marlene Dumas
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Manifesta 10
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The State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia | 28.06 - 31.10 2014
Marlene Dumas
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Manifesta 10
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The State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia | 28.06 - 31.10 2014
exhibition

● group exhibition

Marlene Dumas
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Manifesta 10
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The State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia | 28.06 - 31.10 2014
1/6

● Manifesta 10

 

chief curator: Kasper König

Marlene Dumas, Luc Tuymans
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Twice
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Zeno X Gallery | 03.11 - 21.12 2013
Marlene Dumas, Luc Tuymans
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Twice
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Zeno X Gallery | 03.11 - 21.12 2013
Marlene Dumas, Luc Tuymans
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Twice
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Zeno X Gallery | 03.11 - 21.12 2013
Marlene Dumas, Luc Tuymans
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Twice
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Zeno X Gallery | 03.11 - 21.12 2013
exhibition

● Zeno X Gallery exhibition

Marlene Dumas, Luc Tuymans
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Twice
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Zeno X Gallery | 03.11 - 21.12 2013
1/16

● Twice

 

We are very proud to announce our upcoming exhibition of works by Marlene Dumas and Luc Tuymans. This is the third exhibition in our new gallery space, which was renovated by the Belgian architects Coussée & Goris.

Since 1993 works by Marlene Dumas (°1953, Cape Town) and Luc Tuymans (°1958, Mortsel) have often been included in the same group exhibitions but they have never had a major presentation together. Now, for the first time ever, these two artists will be showing a complete body of work alongside each other in ‘TWICE’. 

Both artists have always paid special attention to the titles of their exhibitions. Currently work from 1978 until 2011 by Luc Tuymans is on view in a solo exhibition, ‘NICE. Luc Tuymans’, at the Menil Collection in Houston. Consequently ‘TWICE AS NICE’ seemed like a logical possible title for this joint exhibition. After a brief discussion the artists agreed to the title ‘TWICE’. Although they are exhibiting their work together, there is no general theme that connects their works. Dumas and Tuymans decided in advance to create no more than six works each in order to keep it compact. When you look at these two solo exhibitions together certain similarities and differences become even more apparent, which, in turn, stimulates the dialogue about painting.

Dumas and Tuymans each have a very different approach. Marlene Dumas does not have a pre-established plan when she starts to work on a new series. Her main focus gradually begins to take shape while she paints. Her approach tends to be organic, leaving space and time for coincidences and her creative process is very different from Tuymans’s. He clearly defines the concept for his exhibition, explores the theme and decides in advance what the paintings should look like. The actual painting process is concentrated, fast, structured and most of the work is done in one day.

Both artists have an ambiguous relation to the photographic, cinematographic or painted image and its meaning. According to Marlene Dumas:

The Artwork as Misunderstanding                   
There is a crisis with regard to representation.
They are looking for meaning as if it was a thing.
As if it was a girl required to take her panty off.
As if she would want to do so, as soon as the true interpreter comes along.
As if there was something to take off.

Dumas also often refers to the notion of “couples” in art or pokes fun at male/female oppositional thinking:

I have painted more women than men
I paint women for men
I paint women for women
I paint the women of my men

Luc Tuymans always mistrusts images because they can be easily manipulated or taken out of context. The image is just a perception, an interpretation of the reality. Tuymans explains: ‘The small gap between the explanation of a picture and the picture itself provides the only possible perspective on painting. My comments refer only to its ambiguity’.

The idea for Tuymans’s new group of works originated in a small painting he made in 1987 of a cook. This work remained unfinished and ended up in his archives. For ‘TWICE’ he reused this old image but chose to create a large-scale painting. In ‘Cook’ we see a man stirring a liquid mass in a large pot. The man’s face is blurry either due to the steam emanating from the pot or because of a light that shines behind him. A chiaroscuro divides the painting in a dark and light mass. The background is darker and more difficult to define. The colours Tuymans uses are warm and vibrant, contrasting with Dumas’s cold and bright palette. Tuymans further explored the theme of the cook in ‘In the Kitchen’, ‘Good advice’ and ‘Containers’.

All these works are close-ups of a large photo he took in the kitchen of a famous old restaurant in Warsaw. It is a very masculine subject, with chefs often being portrayed as machos. The cook is a dominant figure who controls all the operations in the kitchen and who attaches great importance to a hierarchic structure. This ensemble elicits reflections on the representation of politics, monopoly and power.

‘Containers’ is the only work that has a more feminine feel to it. A group of cans and bottles have been arranged together as a still-life. But questions arise about their content. Do they belong in the kitchen? Or are they cosmetics for the bathroom?

‘Dad’s Heat’ features an old heater that Tuymans received from his father. The contrast between the cool background colours and the vibrant red tones give the impression of radiant warmth emanating from the appliance.

One work, ‘My Door I-VI’, is more autonomous. It is a series of six watercolours in which a dark background is lit up by a bright, white stain. This painting is based on several snapshots he took at home of a ray of sun falling onto a door. The painting’s subtle balance between figuration and abstraction creates an ambiguous impression of a mysterious cave.

Both Luc Tuymans and Marlene Dumas have created works with references to political and historical events. While Tuymans focused on the Belgian involvement in the assassination of Congo’s first president, Patrice Lumumba, in his previous series ‘Mwana Kitoko: Beautiful White Man’ (2000) Dumas is more interested in the apparent grief of Lumumba’s wife Pauline in a news image from 1961. In 1982 Dumas used this image in a collage called “3 vroue en ek’. In a new work, ‘The Widow’, she uses the same image again but now the woman even appears twice. Although the same scene is repeated in the diptych the mood is different. In the larger work, we zoom in closer to focus on the figure of Pauline Lumumba and the two men dressed in white on either side of her. She is bare-breasted as a sign of protest and mourning and provocative and vulnerable at the same time. In the small painting we zoom out to see the wider context. Now the relationship with the crowd and the military surroundings demand our attention. In ‘The Trophy’ Dumas also revisits an existing piece. It is another version of her work ‘The Woman of Algiers’ from 2001. The painting is based on a photo of a young naked girl held captive by two soldiers during the Algerian War of Independence in 1960. Dumas fell upon this image, which was published 40 years later in ‘L’ Express’ with censorship bars across her breasts and pubic area. In ‘Nuclear Family’ a family poses naked. Only the children are wearing underpants. It is the first time that Dumas paints a family, a harmonious group portrayed against the backdrop of a landscape that is steeped in unnatural light.

In the ‘The Artist and his Model’ Dumas again plays with the notion of twice, the second, the double and in this sense also with the title of this exhibition. She reflects on her position as an artist and the relation between the artist and the model. Here Luc Tuymans appears as her model. In the background we see a spectre of his model, the former Queen of the Netherlands, whom Tuymans painted. The work is in the collection of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and was officially presented to the public during the re-opening of the Stedelijk Museum in 2012.  In ‘Double’ we see her daughter, who has often been featured as a model in her body of work, now as a young woman, with her reflection, look-alike or double. The only painting to feature only one figure is ‘Missing Picasso’. But then again the title refers to a second presence, the master of ‘the female nude’.

Currently several of Marlene Dumas’s works are on show in the group exhibition ‘Prima Materia’ at Punta Della Dogana in Venice. In September 2014 the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam will host a retrospective of Marlene Dumas’s work. This major exhibition will travel to Tate Modern in London and the Beyeler Foundation in Basel.

Doha, the capital of Qatar, commissioned a gigantic mosaic by Luc Tuymans. The inauguration is scheduled for the end of 2015. A solo exhibition of Tuymans’s work will simultaneously be held at the Museum of Doha. Earlier Tuymans donated a mosaic of 1600 sq.m. for the square in front of the MAS museum in Antwerp. ‘Dead Skull’ is based on a memorial tablet for Quentin Massys (1466-1529), an important painter who founded the painters’ guild, which can be found on the wall next to the entrance of the Cathedral of Antwerp. Tuymans used this image before in a painting dating from 2002. This mosaic is Tuymans’s first public work to be permanently on display.

Michaël Borremans, Dirk Braeckman, Anton Corbijn, Raoul De Keyser, Jan De Maesschalck, Marlene Dumas, Kees Goudzwaard, Kim Jones, Johannes Kahrs, Naoto Kawahara, John Körmeling, Mark Manders, Jockum Nordström, Grace Schwindt, Jenny Scobel, Bart Stolle, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Jack Whitten, Cristof Yvoré
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Opening New Space
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Zeno X Gallery | 17.04 - 25.05 2013
Michaël Borremans, Dirk Braeckman, Anton Corbijn, Raoul De Keyser, Jan De Maesschalck, Marlene Dumas, Kees Goudzwaard, Kim Jones, Johannes Kahrs, Naoto Kawahara, John Körmeling, Mark Manders, Jockum Nordström, Grace Schwindt, Jenny Scobel, Bart Stolle, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Jack Whitten, Cristof Yvoré
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Opening New Space
|
Zeno X Gallery | 17.04 - 25.05 2013
Michaël Borremans, Dirk Braeckman, Anton Corbijn, Raoul De Keyser, Jan De Maesschalck, Marlene Dumas, Kees Goudzwaard, Kim Jones, Johannes Kahrs, Naoto Kawahara, John Körmeling, Mark Manders, Jockum Nordström, Grace Schwindt, Jenny Scobel, Bart Stolle, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Jack Whitten, Cristof Yvoré
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Opening New Space
|
Zeno X Gallery | 17.04 - 25.05 2013
Michaël Borremans, Dirk Braeckman, Anton Corbijn, Raoul De Keyser, Jan De Maesschalck, Marlene Dumas, Kees Goudzwaard, Kim Jones, Johannes Kahrs, Naoto Kawahara, John Körmeling, Mark Manders, Jockum Nordström, Grace Schwindt, Jenny Scobel, Bart Stolle, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Jack Whitten, Cristof Yvoré
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Opening New Space
|
Zeno X Gallery | 17.04 - 25.05 2013
exhibition

● Zeno X Gallery exhibition

Michaël Borremans, Dirk Braeckman, Anton Corbijn, Raoul De Keyser, Jan De Maesschalck, Marlene Dumas, Kees Goudzwaard, Kim Jones, Johannes Kahrs, Naoto Kawahara, John Körmeling, Mark Manders, Jockum Nordström, Grace Schwindt, Jenny Scobel, Bart Stolle, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Jack Whitten, Cristof Yvoré
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Opening New Space
|
Zeno X Gallery | 17.04 - 25.05 2013
1/1
Marlene Dumas
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Measuring Your Own Grave
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MoMA, New York, United States of America | 14.12 2008 - 16.02 2009
Marlene Dumas
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Measuring Your Own Grave
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MoMA, New York, United States of America | 14.12 2008 - 16.02 2009
Marlene Dumas
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Measuring Your Own Grave
|
MoMA, New York, United States of America | 14.12 2008 - 16.02 2009
Marlene Dumas
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Measuring Your Own Grave
|
MoMA, New York, United States of America | 14.12 2008 - 16.02 2009
exhibition

● Solo exhibition

Marlene Dumas
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Measuring Your Own Grave
|
MoMA, New York, United States of America | 14.12 2008 - 16.02 2009
1/50
Marlene Dumas
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For Whom the Bell Tolls
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Zeno X Gallery | 06.09 - 11.10 2008
Marlene Dumas
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For Whom the Bell Tolls
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Zeno X Gallery | 06.09 - 11.10 2008
Marlene Dumas
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For Whom the Bell Tolls
|
Zeno X Gallery | 06.09 - 11.10 2008
Marlene Dumas
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For Whom the Bell Tolls
|
Zeno X Gallery | 06.09 - 11.10 2008
exhibition

● Zeno X Gallery exhibition

Marlene Dumas
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For Whom the Bell Tolls
|
Zeno X Gallery | 06.09 - 11.10 2008
1/26
Marlene Dumas
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Measuring Your Own Grave
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MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, United States of America | 22.06 - 22.09 2008
Marlene Dumas
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Measuring Your Own Grave
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MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, United States of America | 22.06 - 22.09 2008
Marlene Dumas
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Measuring Your Own Grave
|
MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, United States of America | 22.06 - 22.09 2008
Marlene Dumas
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Measuring Your Own Grave
|
MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, United States of America | 22.06 - 22.09 2008
exhibition

● Solo exhibition

Marlene Dumas
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Measuring Your Own Grave
|
MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, United States of America | 22.06 - 22.09 2008
1/17

● Measuring Your Own Grave

 

curator Connie Butler

Michaël Borremans, Dirk Braeckman, Raoul De Keyser, Jan De Maesschalck, Marlene Dumas, Yun-Fei Ji, Kim Jones, Johannes Kahrs, John Körmeling, Mark Manders, Maria Serebriakova, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven
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Works on Paper
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Zeno X Gallery | 17.01 - 17.02 2007
Michaël Borremans, Dirk Braeckman, Raoul De Keyser, Jan De Maesschalck, Marlene Dumas, Yun-Fei Ji, Kim Jones, Johannes Kahrs, John Körmeling, Mark Manders, Maria Serebriakova, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven
Read more
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Works on Paper
|
Zeno X Gallery | 17.01 - 17.02 2007
Michaël Borremans, Dirk Braeckman, Raoul De Keyser, Jan De Maesschalck, Marlene Dumas, Yun-Fei Ji, Kim Jones, Johannes Kahrs, John Körmeling, Mark Manders, Maria Serebriakova, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven
Read more
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Works on Paper
|
Zeno X Gallery | 17.01 - 17.02 2007
Michaël Borremans, Dirk Braeckman, Raoul De Keyser, Jan De Maesschalck, Marlene Dumas, Yun-Fei Ji, Kim Jones, Johannes Kahrs, John Körmeling, Mark Manders, Maria Serebriakova, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven
Read more
-
Works on Paper
|
Zeno X Gallery | 17.01 - 17.02 2007
exhibition

● Zeno X Gallery exhibition

Michaël Borremans, Dirk Braeckman, Raoul De Keyser, Jan De Maesschalck, Marlene Dumas, Yun-Fei Ji, Kim Jones, Johannes Kahrs, John Körmeling, Mark Manders, Maria Serebriakova, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven
Read more
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Works on Paper
|
Zeno X Gallery | 17.01 - 17.02 2007
1/4
Michaël Borremans, Dirk Braeckman, Anton Corbijn, Raoul De Keyser, Jan De Maesschalck, Marlene Dumas, Kees Goudzwaard, Yun-Fei Ji, Kim Jones, Johannes Kahrs, John Körmeling, Mark Manders, Jenny Scobel, Maria Serebriakova, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Cristof Yvoré
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25 years Zeno X Gallery
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Zeno X Gallery | 18.10 - 02.12 2006
Michaël Borremans, Dirk Braeckman, Anton Corbijn, Raoul De Keyser, Jan De Maesschalck, Marlene Dumas, Kees Goudzwaard, Yun-Fei Ji, Kim Jones, Johannes Kahrs, John Körmeling, Mark Manders, Jenny Scobel, Maria Serebriakova, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Cristof Yvoré
Read more
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25 years Zeno X Gallery
|
Zeno X Gallery | 18.10 - 02.12 2006
Michaël Borremans, Dirk Braeckman, Anton Corbijn, Raoul De Keyser, Jan De Maesschalck, Marlene Dumas, Kees Goudzwaard, Yun-Fei Ji, Kim Jones, Johannes Kahrs, John Körmeling, Mark Manders, Jenny Scobel, Maria Serebriakova, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Cristof Yvoré
Read more
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25 years Zeno X Gallery
|
Zeno X Gallery | 18.10 - 02.12 2006
Michaël Borremans, Dirk Braeckman, Anton Corbijn, Raoul De Keyser, Jan De Maesschalck, Marlene Dumas, Kees Goudzwaard, Yun-Fei Ji, Kim Jones, Johannes Kahrs, John Körmeling, Mark Manders, Jenny Scobel, Maria Serebriakova, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Cristof Yvoré
Read more
-
25 years Zeno X Gallery
|
Zeno X Gallery | 18.10 - 02.12 2006
exhibition

● Zeno X Gallery exhibition

Michaël Borremans, Dirk Braeckman, Anton Corbijn, Raoul De Keyser, Jan De Maesschalck, Marlene Dumas, Kees Goudzwaard, Yun-Fei Ji, Kim Jones, Johannes Kahrs, John Körmeling, Mark Manders, Jenny Scobel, Maria Serebriakova, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Cristof Yvoré
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25 years Zeno X Gallery
|
Zeno X Gallery | 18.10 - 02.12 2006
1/53
Marlene Dumas
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Time and Again
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Zeno X Gallery | 28.09 - 16.11 2002
Marlene Dumas
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Time and Again
|
Zeno X Gallery | 28.09 - 16.11 2002
Marlene Dumas
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Time and Again
|
Zeno X Gallery | 28.09 - 16.11 2002
Marlene Dumas
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Time and Again
|
Zeno X Gallery | 28.09 - 16.11 2002
exhibition

● Zeno X Gallery exhibition

Marlene Dumas
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Time and Again
|
Zeno X Gallery | 28.09 - 16.11 2002
1/16
Raoul De Keyser, Marlene Dumas, John Körmeling, Mark Manders, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Cristof Yvoré
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Shopping the Stars
|
Zeno X Gallery | 11.12 1998 - 06.02 1999
Raoul De Keyser, Marlene Dumas, John Körmeling, Mark Manders, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Cristof Yvoré
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Shopping the Stars
|
Zeno X Gallery | 11.12 1998 - 06.02 1999
Raoul De Keyser, Marlene Dumas, John Körmeling, Mark Manders, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Cristof Yvoré
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Shopping the Stars
|
Zeno X Gallery | 11.12 1998 - 06.02 1999
Raoul De Keyser, Marlene Dumas, John Körmeling, Mark Manders, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Cristof Yvoré
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Shopping the Stars
|
Zeno X Gallery | 11.12 1998 - 06.02 1999
exhibition

● Zeno X Gallery exhibition

Raoul De Keyser, Marlene Dumas, John Körmeling, Mark Manders, Luc Tuymans, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Cristof Yvoré
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Shopping the Stars
|
Zeno X Gallery | 11.12 1998 - 06.02 1999
1/1
Marlene Dumas
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Give the people what they want
|
Zeno X Gallery | 02.03 - 08.05 1993
Marlene Dumas
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Give the people what they want
|
Zeno X Gallery | 02.03 - 08.05 1993
Marlene Dumas
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Give the people what they want
|
Zeno X Gallery | 02.03 - 08.05 1993
Marlene Dumas
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-
Give the people what they want
|
Zeno X Gallery | 02.03 - 08.05 1993
exhibition

● Zeno X Gallery exhibition

Marlene Dumas
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Give the people what they want
|
Zeno X Gallery | 02.03 - 08.05 1993
1/14