Five tips in Halen by Ellen Vrijsen
"Which studios would you visit?" In a flood of about 1500 studios, making choices can get more difficult. Therefore, not Kunstwerkt, but six participating artists solve the question. The result? An equal amount of routes along studios worth visiting. In this article painter Ellen Vrijsen shows you around in Halen.
On Ellen Vrijsen
Typical of Ellen Vrijsen's visual work is the virtuosity with which she moves between different genres: in her paintings, in which she combines different media, she moves back and forth between figurative and abstract, serious and playful, fluid and hard. It is precisely these contradictions that allow her to show the reality through her work with all its seams and fractures. (text by Nadia Sels, 2023)
Liliane Vanholst
Ellen: “You immediately feel the connection to nature in the photographs Liliane shows in her studio. I thought of Cecily Brown when I saw the last piece. It is dreamy but not naive and I also sense some Japanese influence in her work. I would visit her studio because her colour palette really appeals to me.”
Liesbet Nouwen
Ellen: “At first glance, you see a simple visual language, but if you look further, you can discover a lot in the layering of the work. Liesbet plays with something primitive and can certainly convince me. The amount of light in her studio sneaks into her work and she can tell her story through contradictions.”
Chris Horions
Ellen: “Few words needed to convince me. I saw the pictures and recognised glimpses of Marlène Dumas and Sofie Muller in them. The multimedia aspect is interesting here: how the different visual languages work together to create one story. The way of storytelling is layered and therefore nuanced.”
Els Wuyts
Ellen: “When I see this work, it reminds me of Zhang Enli or Walter Swennen. I especially like her 'stories of banality'. The chairs at the table are very touching and the little house against the blue background captures my heart immediately. She dares to paint, she is willing to risk everything to tell it right and that works disarmingly."
Atelier Contour
Ellen: “I have been following Atelier Contour for several years and their love for material and craftsmanship can be felt in everything. I love brutalism and they know how to touch and redefine that beautifully. They love what they do and you can see this.”
Get on your bike
During Atelier in Pictures, you can ride Blue-bike for free to visit studios. Take a train into town and then hop on a bike to visit all the studios in the area? Perfect!