Thomas Erben is pleased to announce “Intrusion & Séparation”, the first US solo exhibition of the young Belgian painter VINCENT GEYSKENS.

In his native country, Geyskens (b. 1971) has already an impressive exhibition record. His work was included in the seminal 1999 “Trouble Spot Painting” show at MUHKA and NICC, both in Antwerp, and was recently featured at the Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens in Deurle.

On view will be 12 works in oil of various sizes and painterly approaches. Mostly small, figurative canvases are combined with larger, richly painted abstractions.

Geyskens uses sexually charged images of gendered and sometimes trans-gendered bodies selected for their directness and arousing properties. Subjected to a disengaged, formal treatment, the painted images are disturbing in their tension between what is the residue of the initially seductive reflex and the aggressivity of the material object.

In “Party Killer”, the flat jet-black surface is interrupted by a vertical zip reminiscent of a harsh, green neon light. Paired with “Cante Hondo”, the image of a high-heeled man in a skintight latex dress, the viewer’s attention is more drawn to the textural execution than to the sadomasochistic undertones.

Throughout the exhibition, similar strategies of “Intrusion & Séparation” make use of a variety of genres, including still life, interior and the human figure. Geyskens sees the resulting tension as endemic to the medium itself. For him painting is the most effective means to express this tension between the illusional image world and real matter.

After the ascent in the 1990’s of now internationally recognized artists (i.e. Luc Tuymans, Raoul de Keyser and Wim Delvoye), Geyskens is an outstanding exponent of a new generation of Belgian artists ready to burst onto the international scene.