°1963 in Ghent

Study: Graphic Arts in Sint-Lucas Ghent - 1986

Ellen Vanholen has developed as an artist who finds deep resonance within the contemporary art world. After completing her studies, she immersed herself in the movements of Arte Povera and material art.

Her oeuvre, often characterized by the use of simple or overlooked materials, explores themes such as vulnerability, the transience of existence and the solitary human experience. Her artistic quest goes beyond the material: she strives to uncover hidden meanings and connections with the universe, an endeavor she sees as a journey into the 'fourth dimension'.

Ellen's approach to art is deeply philosophical, a view that manifests in her belief that art is never finished but is left in a state where it can continue to grow and develop. The creations are not only aesthetic in nature but also serve as catalysts for introspection about our existence and the human position within the cosmic whole.

www.ellenvanholen.com

°1978 in Madrid (Spain)

Study: Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Madrid, 2003
Study stay at the Camberwell College of Arts (University of the Arts London)

Carlos Albert is an all-round artist. He designs and creates his works himself. The raw iron and steel is bent, twisted, cut and completely surrendered to the creative power of the sculptor.

The steel plates that make up the monumental sculptures fit together perfectly and provide an incredible and formal simplicity to complex works. The void as well as matter is an essential part of Carlos Albert's work. The artist has introduced color in his recent works. In combination with the essential elements of sculpture, he believes they enhance the beauty and expression of the material. After winning several competitions, a few of the artist's monumental sculptures were integrated into public spaces. Carlos Albert was also selected to create works for museums (Vietnam in 2018, Havana and Miami in 2019), confirming his progression at the international level.

The exhibition with artist Carlos Albert was made possible with the cooperation of the Aquilaluna art gallery (Rue Lieutenant Pirard 16, 4607 Dalhem/Liège).

www.aquilaluna.com

www.carlosalbertscultor.com

Bronze artwork: 'Unspoken words'
Price: €4 400

'Mare Nostrum'

Acrylic on canvas, 100 x 100cm: €2 500

Work of art in the spotlight by artist Vincent van Eeden (current exhibition at Coutre M.A.M., Kleinvleeshuissteeg 2A in Ghent)!

This painting 'L'histoire (se répète)' is based on the fire on April 15, 2019 of the Parisian French-Gothic cathedral Notre-Dame (built in the period 1163-1225, according to the idea of ​​Bishop Maurice de Sully).
The cathedral caught fire during the renovation. The lead-clad oak roof structure (some trees were from the 8th century) was almost totally destroyed.
Notre-Dame will reopen at the end of 2024.
Size: 100 x 100cm
Price: €2 675

You would like a beautiful sculpture in plaster of your body? Frank Mortier, current artist at Coutre M.A.M., will take care of this for the very nice price of €650. You can register via veerle@coutre.be

Bernadette Schoon - Mare Nostrum

°Ghent, 1945

Education: Drawing and painting at the Latem School: 'Latems Creatief' (student of Monic Wittebolle, teacher of graphics at the Sint-Lucasacademie Ghent and Art Academy Tielt).

The works of artist Bernadette Schoon, alias “Be.eS”, are a continuous search for balance, both in form and color. She knows how to express a rich variety of intense feelings in a sober way. Bernadette wants to bring peace and harmony to our chaotic world with her work: ZEN! She uses acrylic paint on canvas, linen and handmade paper to achieve her expressions. Be.eS is also socially committed: part of the proceeds from its work goes to 'Tajo', a talent studio for young people in Ghent and Kortrijk. Social vulnerability denies opportunities, especially among young people. To seize opportunities, young people must first be given opportunities.

Art does not represent the visible, but makes the invisible “visible” (Paul Klee)

Frank Mortier

°Deinze, 1959

Education: Municipal Academy Deinze

A journey of discovery into humanity,
past,
the limitless skin,
the layers
where the soul
is hiding
a longing journey
to the inner source
who shows himself,
full of sentences without words
disguised in images
full of meaning.

Vincent van Eeden

°Voorburg (NL), 1969 Lives and works in Ghent

Education: Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, including with Fred Bervoets

Close off from the outside world for a while. Open the third dimension in your thoughts... Enter a world where different laws of gravity apply, where light and dark support each other, where seas and skies surround the exuberance... The works are stories born from the painter's rich and profound imagination. A fantasy based on knowledge. A knowledge that presupposes certainty. Security because of the laws of Love, struggle and security. And then… points of rest that can be found in every work, where the scales are in balance again, the lakes of silence, the view of the future born from the feminine element… Vincent van Eeden, as the youngest grandson of writer and poet Frederik van Eeden continues the artistic line on the blank canvas. Poetry, sculpture and performing arts have also found his fascination over time.

Vincent's poem 'Vulnerable' describes his work well:

“In freedom I give you love,
In love I let you go.
Dependence surpassed,
binds the soul,
what sprang from the source,
finds the soul
her equal in the source.
In freedom
the source finds its soul
…”

Piet Van

°1955, Diksmuide

Courses KASK Ghent, film animation

Living and working place: Bon-Secours

Piet Van is a Belgian multidisciplinary artist. His artistic repertoire includes delicate pencil drawings, paintings, architectural compositions, small sculptures, monumental installations and patented inventions. Artist Piet demonstrates a unique combination of talents and a deep understanding of materials, which has driven his remarkable art projects over the past 50 years. Each of Piet's works of art reflects the artist's complex thought process and demonstrates an unwavering commitment to diversity and innovation. Even after decades in the art world, he remains an active force, constantly involved in new and exciting art projects that push boundaries and continue to captivate audiences.

Johan Tahon (Menen, 1965) did not become a sculptor. He always has been and always will be. For him, sculpting is like breathing. At an early age he discovered that objects gave lightness to the heaviness of existence. Pain was his driving force, yet each of the images created under his hands gave him a glimpse of the beauty of rebirth. Tahon was instantly hooked, went to study sculpture at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK) in Ghent and was not yet thirty when he entered the international art arena. Since then he has always been on the road, never to arrive. Restless and full of longing for the unspeakable, Johan Tahon explores the boundaries of the great unknown. Relying on his material, technique and skill, he fearlessly and stubbornly searches for the nothing that is at the same time everything. Towards a present that is also past and future. To the silence that says it all. In recent decades, Tahon has breathed life into an impressive row of mysterious bronze, plaster and ceramic sculptures: wounded giants and unapproachable angels, tormented creatures and demure monks, sensual nudes and amorphous hybrids. All of them – whether they fit in the palm of your hand or reach monumental heights – float between earth and heaven.

'Double Van Gogh' is a plaster sculpture made in response to Johan Tahon's solo exhibition 'Van Gogh-Preacher' in the Vincent van Gogh Museum in Zundert.

D.D. Trans, synonym of Frank Tuytschaever (Kruiskerke, 1963), is a conceptual artist who often gives a small, surreal transformation to everyday objects in his work. He short-circuits the connection between created things and their meaning, ignited by association, a touch of rebellion and an undertone of melancholy. His work is humorous and minimalist. The work of D.D. Trans looks light but stings deeper than it seems. He examines the status of the found object as a work of art in a well-aimed but unpretentious manner.

In the 1990s, Jacqueline Peeters (Eindhoven, 1961) started making paintings with the text Unsold Painting no. 48, no. 49, etc., and she painted price lists of her unsold works. She now uses some of her old, unsold paintings as a basis for new paintings. Peeters paints windows over it as views into the past. This play with past and present is also reflected in her paintings about her Indian family tree. These are both a nod to current identity thinking and a tribute to her ancestors.

Artist William Phillips exhibits his special work in the medieval Calefactorium of Coutre M.A.M. (Kleinvleeshuissteeg 2A in 9000 Ghent).

Herr Seele delighted us with a visit on Sunday, October 22 and showed enormous interest and appreciation for the works of art.

The exhibition will remain open to the public until November 4, 2023.

Carlos Eggermont, ° in 1933 in Ghent

Exhibitions: Belgium (Oostende, Ghent, Ronse, Ypres,...), Paris, Netherlands.

Carlos Eggermont was an art dealer, designer furniture seller, self-taught interior designer but above all a passionate painter. His works have a roughness that is reminiscent of certain primal representations. The human primacy is never completely distanced: animal in our drives, impulses, instincts and human in our being and appearance. Exceptions to this are the paintings with a geometric slant, planes that arise from the architectural designs. The main part of Eggermont's oeuvre is quite dark in nature. He doesn't need color to tell his story or bring his work to life. However, he is not opposed to color. The proof of this is that color appears here and there, especially in his more recent work.

Hugo De Leener, ° in 1954 in Ostend

Residence and workplace: Asper-Gavere

Education: Academy of Fine Arts in Bruges, Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent

Exhibitions: Amsterdam, Cologne, Scotland, Saint Petersburg, Italy, London.

Hugo De Leener is an atypical artist.

The drawings in his books grow slowly. Hugo strolls through the streets of Brussels, Ghent and other cities. He sees and thinks. During his train rides he gives the first fleeting impetus and at home he writes, draws, rolls, paints, prints, perforates, pastes,... he continues in an intuitive way until the composition convinces him. His writing, an essential part of his drawings, evokes an endless universe and reveals an enormous imagination.

Hugo's drawings are separate from his objects. He transforms the humblest material into objects of deep poetic beauty. The viewer is given every opportunity to fill in the broad framework of meanings himself or not.

His installations and assemblages enchant the viewer with their intriguing simplicity. The attentive viewer will notice the subtle humorous note in some works. One could say that his work leans towards 'arte povera', but 'poetic minimalism' is a better term.

Merab Surviladze was born in 1965 in Tbilissi (Georgia).

If we look back to Merab's original way of working, his painting has undergone profound changes mentally and physically over the years.

Synchronized with time and space, Merab added a new dimension to his works in the form of handmade acrylic figurines. On the one hand, this addition enables the artist to push the technical boundaries of his art. On the other hand, he thereby creates the original version of abstract, expressive painting that is conceptually based on the metaphor of shadow and its artistic-philosophical reading.

Shadow forms, according to Merab, represent tensions, the disruption of tonalities and they give depth that would otherwise be missed. It seems that he is asking questions about the shadow phenomenon.

Merab decided to position herself in the color of the shadow. He pays no attention to the origin, the language, the skin color or even the place. In the shadows we are all free to be ourselves.

Merab succeeds in portraying an image of real drama. By synthesizing spaces, bodies and shadows he touches on existential problems - lives that exist in a state of unknown regularity. Merab wants to show a space that is real, but needs a special way to make it clear.

Arne Quinze was born in 1971 in Ghent. He is a contemporary conceptual artist, painter and sculptor. His work is comprehensive: from small drawings and paintings to medium-sized sculptures to massive installations. During his early career (the 1980s) he was a graffiti artist. He always questioned the role of our cities, which led him to explore the possibilities of turning the cities into open-air museums. His work quickly evolved from Street Art to Public Art with recurring themes such as social interaction, urbanization and diversity. He became known as an artist in 2006 by placing Uchronia, a wooden structure 30 m high and 60 m wide at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert, USA.

The internationally acclaimed Arne Quinze has become synonymous with monumental installations all over the world, but his oeuvre also includes paintings, smaller sculptures and light installations. He is co-founder and director of the Quinze & Milan office that commercializes furniture and develops architectural projects. His installations are built to provoke reactions and intervene in the daily lives of passers-by who are confronted with his sculptures.

Jean Boghossian was born in 1949 in Aleppo (Syria). He is a multidisciplinary and abstract artist whose later works, in varying proportions, all show traces of combustion. Despite an invasive and rather violent medium (fire) and deliberate damage, Boghossian is constantly looking for harmony. Aware that the chaotic movement of flames and smoke can never be completely tamed, the artist deliberately joins in their wild dance until he decides to stop the process when he feels the right balance has been struck. The young Boghossian comes from a family of jewelers and worked for the company while simultaneously studying economics and sociology at Saint-Joseph University in Beirut. The Lebanese civil war in 1975 forced Boghossian to leave the country and settle in Belgium. More than 30 years ago, Boghossian decided to enroll at the Bosvoorde Art Academy in Brussels. In 1992 he founded the Boghossian Foundation together with his brother and his father. His art, which has been moving towards abstraction for more than a decade, evokes a contemporary Zero movement and Fluxus, although Boghossian does not belong to any known movement or school. Boghossian treated media such as canvas, paper, books and plastic with fire, sometimes creating perforation patterns. In addition to the flame, Boghossian uses different mediums such as watercolor, charcoal, oil, pigments and acrylic paint and different techniques such as folding, tearing, collage. Boghossian makes his sculptures from wood, polystyrene, clay, marble or bronze, some of which he in turn energizes with fire.

Jean Boghossian has participated in recent exhibitions : Avenue Louise, Brussels (2021), Wilford X (2020), BRAFA, Boon Gallery (2020), Wooyang Museum of Contemporary Arts, Korea (2019- 2020), Museum und Park Kalkriese Germany (2019-2020), United Nations Office, Geneva (2019), Galerie Tanit, Munich (2019), Galerie Valérie Bach, Brussels (2018), Galerie Pièce Unique, Paris (2018), German Bundestag, Berlin (2018), Cardi Gallery, London (2018), Museum Ground, Republic of Korea (2018), L’Orient Le Jour building, Beirut (2018), the National Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan (2018), Frieze New York, Cardi Gallery (2018), Art Monte-Carlo, Cardi Gallery (2018), Ayyam Gallery, Dubai (2018), Armenian Center of Contemporary Experimental Art, Yerevan (2017, 2007), 57th Venice Biennale (2017), Musée d’Ixelles, Brussels (2017), Beirut Exhibition Center, Beirut (2015, 2011), Fondazione Palazzo Albizzini Collection Burri, Città di Castello, Italy (2015), Museo Archeologico di Atina e della Valle di Comino, Atina (2015), Villa Empain, Brussels (2014), Art Abu Dhabi, Saleh Barakat Gallery (2013), Youngeun Museum of Contemporary Art, Republic of Korea (2012)

Dae Mee Van der Haegen is passionate about the beauty of flowers. As a Belgian artist of Korean descent, she wanted to freeze the flowers and thereby make them eternal. Starting from existing flowers that will eventually determine the original shape of her work, Dae Mee changes the flowers by shaping and coloring them according to her own wishes. For this she uses a unique process she developed and refers to Egyptian mummies.

This results in 'a renaissance of the flower'…

In collaboration with Arne Quinze and the Floralies, Coutre has the honor of temporarily exhibiting one of Quinze's Lupine sculptures at the Kouter. The large work can be viewed from 22/4, there will also be several sculptures of other sizes on display in the Coutre gallery.