Marc Vanderleenen ° Mechelen, 1952 – works and lives in Antwerp.

Marc Vanderleenen works every day—from nine to five or thereabouts. He produces sketches as if he were drawing on for example beer mats or in a diary. Often he explores the same figures, motifs or themes, time and again, until he gets tired of them. The sketches are schematic, but not cursory. Sometimes it takes quite a while before the image really unfolds and turns out how it should—in its essence and freshness. Likewise, the small works—‘In large works I lose too much,’ as he once stated—also demand time from the spectator. There is no gravitational pull, the painting does not right away absorb the gaze, does not require our undivided attention. But upon approaching the image—in Vanderleenen’s typical dull grey, beige and green hues—it allows itself to be touched and read prudently. But it never allows itself to be fathomed. (Tamara Beheydt)
The Pale Horses is the fourth horseman of the apocalypse. Paintings of geese with their beaks open, clean young men's heads on a stake referring to a swastika or nazi salute and other subjects populate the exhibition.

Artists: Marc Vanderleenen