The solo exhibition of Nel Aerts (°1987) 'Ontmaskerd Maske' (Unmasked Girl) brings an exciting and organicly growing oeuvre to de Warande. In her drawings, collages and paintings Nel Aerts develops her own imagery with recurring basic forms in a sober color palette.

In her work, Nel Aerts mocks the loaded seriousness of the art world. Her self-portraits are both cartoonish and tragic at the same time. Aerts poses uncomfortably as a diva in her own little stories, which often have a sad undertone. We recognize the self-portraits of young girls in social media, where self-promotion is the ultimate façade.

In this exhibition, Nel Aerts goes a step further in abandoning traditional painting. The textile she introduced in her work some time ago is even more present in her exhibition in de Warande.

In 2015, Aerts spent three months in the Van Gogh house in Zundert where she made a series of drawings, mostly self-portraits. Recently she converted these drawings to works on a large format in which she also processed a lot of textiles.

You are about to enter a world of bizarre figures at the intersection of tragedy, humor, poetry and fiction.

Artists: Nel Aerts