About Chris
With an open mind, Chris Meulemans explores the human urge to manipulate and control our environment. She does this in paintings that, thanks to an enigmatic combination of figurative elements and abstract techniques, attract the viewer and encourage them to read their own story in the image.
In earlier work, Meulemans already studied human behaviour, dealing with trauma and the genetic manipulation of animals. She continues this exploration, with the human manipulation of nature, in her recent paintings. The plants and flowers that she depicts are a vehicle to evoke the fragility of nature, but also of our daily life, of our imposed structures in an almost desperate attempt to control nature. Emphasized or fragmentary grid patterns in the paintings show a discrete reference to science, to the human urge to categorize, to study and therefore to control everything.
She plays with layers and shapes: the cloudy boundary between foreground and background, and the varying degree of abstraction, create an alienating feeling. The works do not provide a peaceful security; they ask questions. The artist’s personal vulnerability also plays a part in this. She does not shy away from loading much of herself, of her own emotion, into the work.
Meulemans’ found titles, which she connects with her images in an intuitive way, further mislead the viewer. In their absurdity they have something funny, but also disturbing: the context created by the combination of title and image is uncomfortable. Behind the painted layers of her visual-poetic work, a door to the imagination is opened. Every painting is the start of a sentence, the beginning of a story that the viewer can continue as they see fit.
text by Tamara Beheydt
Curriculum Vitae
°1967 in Turnhout, Belgium
Lives and works in Kasterlee (Antwerp)
Education
1998 – Master of Fine Arts in Painting, Sint Lucas school of Arts, Antwerp, BE
1990 – Master of Fine Arts in Photography, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp, BE
1997 – Drawing, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp, BE
Awards/Grants
2018 – Honourable mentions, ‘Ronse Drawing Prize’ 2018
1990 – Prijs Familie Oppenheimer, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp, BE
1987 – Prijs van VRI.K.A., Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp, BE
1986 – Prijs Mark Macken, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp, BE
Selected Exhibitions
2023
– Art Antwerp 3rd, Antwerp Expo, Antwerp, BE
– Art on Paper, Gare Maritime Tour&Taxis, Brussels, BE
– Silence, Pregnant with Promise, Schönfeld Gallery, Brussels, BE
– Stille Levens, Venetiaanse Gaanderijen, Ostend, BE
– Drawn By Winter, Shoobil Gallery, Antwerp, BE
2022
– Brush Brush, De Tank, Bruges, BE
– Art festival On High Ground, PAKT, Antwerp, BE
– Solo exhibition Natural Renaissance, Shoobil Gallery, Antwerp, BE
– Solo exhibition A Déguster Lentement, D’Apostrof, Meigem, BE
– Solo exhibition Completely In Command, De Warande, Turnhout,BE
2021
– 20ste Biennale Hedendaagse Kunst, Kasteel van Poeke, Aalter, BE
– Summer Leaves, 4n20 Ruimte voor Kunst, Kortrijk, BE
2020
– Walk The Line, Schönfeld Gallery, Brussels, BE
– Solo exhibition Concrete Garden, Shoobil Gallery, Antwerp, BE
– Les Artistes Belges, Schönfeld Gallery, Brussels, BE
– Kunst in Afzondering, Museum Dr. Guislain, Ghent, BE
2019
– Oog in oog, Jakob Smits Museum, Mol, BE
– Solo exhibition Art The Hague Art Fair, Shoobil Gallery, The Hague, NL
– Intersection, North-South Gallery, Arendonk, BE
2018
– Ronse Drawing Prize 2018, CC De Ververij, Ronse, BE
– Malleability, Shoobil Gallery, Antwerp, BE
– Solo exhibition White Shadow, Rivoli Building, Brussels, BE
2017
– Un espace privilégié pour un rituel contemporain, Grand-Place 5060, Sambreville, BE
2016
– Land van Belofte, Art Space Praetoria, Antwerp, BE
– Drawing Rooms 2, PAK platform for contemporary arts, Gistel, BE
– Bozar de l’Abattoir, EXIT11, Grand-Leez, BE
2015
– Solo exhibition That which is not written, Nylonfabrik, Sint-Niklaas, BE
– Painting, Workplace, Antwerp, BE
– Bozar de l’Abattoir, Fred Michiels, Tamines, BE
– Accrochage 1, Eva Steynen Deviations, Antwerp, BE
2012
– Est-ce un signe, F44, Borgerhout, BE
2009
– Solo exhibition, Hofke van Chantraine, Oud-Turnhout, BE
– Solo exhibition, Cultuurcentrum ’t Getouw, Mol, BE
2007
– Solo exhibition, Art Studio Gynaika, Mechelen, BE
Professional Experience
1995 till 2017 – Teaching Painting, Gemeentelijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten, Arendonk, BE
2015 till 2018 – Initiator of Art Space Praetoria, Antwerp,BE
