Zeno X Gallery has the pleasure to announce the third solo exhibition of Jan De Maesschalck (°1958, Sint- Gillis-Waas, BE). The exhibition brings together recent works that evince clear shifts in the artist’s approach in comparison with his earlier work. He remains faithful to painting with acrylic paint on paper, which allows him to work quickly and directly, yet the familiar scenes with literary references and quirky, subtle humour have been replaced by landscapes and threatening scenes in which light plays an increasingly important role. The evoked sense of silence is suggestive and feeds the imagination and narrative power of the viewer. In the new work, the apparent sense of stillness forebodes a critical moment, as if the tranquil whole is about to be disrupted at any moment. The short-haired girl in ‘The Prejudice’ looks suspiciously to her side, apparently noticing something that is not seen by the others. In this scene, the gaze of the viewer is led to a place outside the work. In these works, the artist pays more attention to the detailing of the faces and focuses mainly on the play between light and shadow. The less elaborated busts and backgrounds play a subordinate role and become almost abstract elements in a figurative painting. The search for the boundary between figuration and abstraction comes to a culmination in ‘Untitled (cocklebur)’. Here, a thistle-like plant takes up almost the entire picture plane, making it almost impossible to determine that which is depicted. Clarity is blurred in ‘Untitled (waiting room)’ as well; the body of the woman fades almost completely into the background.

With a title like ‘The Distance’, De Maesschalck already reveals his relationship to his subjects. He rarely takes a camera in hand and one will be hard pressed to ever find a living model in his studio. De Maesschalck is an artist who walks, observes, selects, interprets and fantasizes. A work emerges after a succession of phases and intensive research. He prefers to take inspiration from photographs found in newspapers and magazines, and also the Internet is a rich source of usable visual material. Yet De Maesschalck is also connected to his native region of Waasland, where he still lives and works. The work ‘Untitled (Coudenborm)’, for example, depicts an old barn the artist has known for his entire life that has, however, fallen into ruin. (The building is said to be on the site of the later Boudelo Abbey in Klein-Sinaai.) This work is a tribute to his deceased father who would tell him fascinating stories from the region. The painting is not the only landscape in this selection of works. To De Maesschalck, landscape painting is a genre full of obstacles, but it is precisely this challenge that appeals to him. ‘Untitled’ (2014) is a fictional mountain landscape that recalls the work of the 17th-century masters of Chinese picture painting. In their work, they sought to reveal the essence of nature but, according to De Maesschalck, also depicted its inherent disharmony. De Maesschalck is a painter for whom beauty is not a taboo, but its opposite is not either. Although the landscape as a topic seems to become increasingly more important in this new series of works, there is still room for eroticism as in ‘Untitled’ (Cadzand)’.

In his painting, De Maesschalck’s effectuates various shifts, creating, in this way, a different intensity in the image. The spatial distance, the perspective, in figurative images is very determining. In a work like ‘Untitled (confidential)’ he employs a bird’s eye view, while in ‘Untitled (Coudenborm)’ he rather adopts a frog’s perspective. The Maesschalck also uses different zooms. In ‘The Distance’ the gaze wanders through an abandoned favela, split by a river or brook. The modern apartment building in the background stands in stark contrast to the dilapidated suburb. The contrast, in this way, emphasizes the social differences that exist in a city. The artist mainly utilises this broad and distant gaze in his painted landscapes. People, and especially women, are rather portrayed up close. In ‘A Naturalist’ we are presented with a close-up view of a man. In this portrait, the artist emphasizes shadows and details. The period to which an image refers can also create a sense of distance. ‘Untitled (privileged)’ for instance, shows a scene with dressed-up women, presumably spectators at a horse race, wearing ornate hats. Their attire, but also that of the male riders, takes us back to the 19th century. Here again, De Maesschalck controls the gaze of the characters; none of them look in the same direction.

A new solo catalogue will be published by Hannibal on the occasion of the exhibition, with texts by Bernard Dewulf and Eric Rinckhout.

Recently, work by Jan De Maesschalck was included in group exhibitions at Museum Dr. Guislain, Gent (BE), Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix (U.S.), De Warande, Turnhout (BE), Museum of Ixelles, Ixelles (BE) and Bozar in Brussels (BE).