Abstract delight: Ilse D’Hollander’s paintings go on view in New York

By
last updated
in News
Two abstract paints. The painting to the left is in gray and black tones, with a pop o pale yellow. The painting to the right is in blue tones, with black and yellow lines.
The Belgian artist Ilse D’Hollander is the subject of a new show at New York’s Sean Kelly Gallery, the first comprehensive display of her work in the US. Pictured left: Untitled, 1995. Right: Untitled, 1996
(Image credit: Guy Braeckman. Courtesy Sean Kelly Gallery)

The Chelsea art dealer Sean Kelly has staged the first comprehensive exhibition in the US devoted to the Belgian artist, Ilse D'Hollander. Eponymously named, the exhibition showcases 60 paintings and works on paper all created during a ten-year period prior to her untimely death.

'Even though Ilse’s oeuvre is compelling yet subtle, she had but one solo show in her entire life,' says Janine Cirincione, Sean Kelly's director and the show's curator. 'It’s exceedingly rare that you come across an artist whose entire body of work is so mature at a remarkably young age,' she adds.

D’Hollander’s spare compositions are based on blurred blocks and bands of color (which she then lays down as thin layers of oil paint in a palette ranging from taupe and slate blue to pale yellow that give a sense of luminosity and geometry), akin to the work of Nicolas de Staël and early Mondrian. A number of her works reference the Flemish landscape, while others are totally abstract.

'There's a sense of stepping into a picture plane that is intimate and filled with light,' says Cirincione. The painter’s 1996 Oostende, comprises vertical bands of forest green and black, flanking an evanescent body of pale jade.

Just as D’Hollander’s oil paintings are extraordinary, so too are her works on paper. 'She turned to a rather unconventional methodology. Ilse frequently applied multiple layers of oil paint on paper that are surprisingly small, a mere nine inches in length and width,' Cirincione explains. A case in point is the artist’s Untitled, 1996, a flush of pink and dove gray punctuated by a soft orange.

'She’s really a prodigy and merits considerable attention,' concludes Cirincione. No small praise.

The abstract painting is done in vertical smears of earth tones, with yellow lines running through the painting horizontally.

D’Hollander’s spare compositions are based on blurred blocks and bands of colour which she then lays down as thin layers of oil paint to give a sense of luminosity and geometry. Pictured: Untitled, 1996

(Image credit: TBC)

The abstract painting is done in a light blue background with dark blue rectangles connected with yellow lines.

The presentation showcases 60 paintings and works on paper, all created during a ten-year period prior to her untimely death. Pictured: Untitled, 1996

(Image credit: TBC)

We see two abstract paintings in brown, blue, yellow, and black tones in a smearing motion.

’Even though Ilse’s oeuvre is compelling yet subtle, she had but one solo show in her entire life,’ says Janine Cirincione, Sean Kelly’s director and the curator of the show. Pictured left: Untitled, 1996. Right: Untitled, 1996

(Image credit: TBC)

INFORMATION

’llse D’Hollander’ is on view until 6 February. For more information, visit Sean Kelly Gallery’s website

Photography: Guy Braeckman. Courtesy Sean Kelly Gallery

ADDRESS

Sean Kelly Gallery
475 Tenth Avenue
New York

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

TOPICS