Aglaé Bassens: Empty Threats
12.26 is pleased to present Aglaé Bassens: Empty Threats, an exhibition of new paintings by the Belgian born, Brooklyn-based artist.
A sense of melancholy and solitude are pervasive qualities throughout Bassens’ work. Her paintings zoom in on the familiar and overlooked, intensifying moments such as the gentle swing of a lampshade or deriving formal pleasures from the stiff folds of a tablecloth. These images function as stage sets for dreamy, introspective contemplation. In Empty Threats, Bassens challenges us with single, cinematic-like images in which we are responsible for filling in the blanks.
In the last year, with the confines of home weighing on Bassens’ mind, the time she spent indoors throughout the pandemic slowly began to change her perception of her surroundings. What was once familiar and safe suddenly became strange and suspect. The surface of every object and the reflection of each window became a screen upon which to project anxiety. Artificial lighting confuses the time of day and leaning outdoor structures appear like futile human interventions in the face of the unknown. Images of interiors and domestic objects teeter the line between fictional and personal.
While each work in Empty Threats is of a specific place, the setting also feels unsituated and directionless. Certainly, ideas of the home and domestic life are at play, but through whose point of view? Are we looking out from the safety of within, or are we the intruder approaching the open window?
Aglaé Bassens (b. 1986, Belgium) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Bassens has a BA in Fine Art from the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford University (2007) and an MFA in Fine Art Painting from the Slade School of Fine Art, London (2011). Solo exhibitions include Sincerely, Hesse Flatow, New York (2020), Surface Tension, Nars Foundation, Brooklyn (2018), You Can See Better From Here, CRUSH Curatorial, New York (2018) and Front Parting, Cabin Gallery London (2016). Recent group shows include Surface Tension, Workplace Gallery, London (2021) Fête Galante, Heaven Gallery, Chicago (2020), Still Here, Newington Gallery, London (2019), Chains, Central Park Gallery, Los Angeles (2019), HEADS, The Java Project, Brooklyn (2017), Contemporary British Painting Prize, London (2016), Biennial Of Painting: The Painter’s Touch, Museum of Deinze, Belgium (2014), PAPER, Saatchi Gallery, London (2013) and Jerwood Drawing Prize, London (2012). Her work is featured in New American Paintings No. 134 Northeast Issue, and in 100 Painters of Tomorrow published by Thames and Hudson (2014).
A sense of melancholy and solitude are pervasive qualities throughout Bassens’ work. Her paintings zoom in on the familiar and overlooked, intensifying moments such as the gentle swing of a lampshade or deriving formal pleasures from the stiff folds of a tablecloth. These images function as stage sets for dreamy, introspective contemplation. In Empty Threats, Bassens challenges us with single, cinematic-like images in which we are responsible for filling in the blanks.
In the last year, with the confines of home weighing on Bassens’ mind, the time she spent indoors throughout the pandemic slowly began to change her perception of her surroundings. What was once familiar and safe suddenly became strange and suspect. The surface of every object and the reflection of each window became a screen upon which to project anxiety. Artificial lighting confuses the time of day and leaning outdoor structures appear like futile human interventions in the face of the unknown. Images of interiors and domestic objects teeter the line between fictional and personal.
While each work in Empty Threats is of a specific place, the setting also feels unsituated and directionless. Certainly, ideas of the home and domestic life are at play, but through whose point of view? Are we looking out from the safety of within, or are we the intruder approaching the open window?
Aglaé Bassens (b. 1986, Belgium) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Bassens has a BA in Fine Art from the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford University (2007) and an MFA in Fine Art Painting from the Slade School of Fine Art, London (2011). Solo exhibitions include Sincerely, Hesse Flatow, New York (2020), Surface Tension, Nars Foundation, Brooklyn (2018), You Can See Better From Here, CRUSH Curatorial, New York (2018) and Front Parting, Cabin Gallery London (2016). Recent group shows include Surface Tension, Workplace Gallery, London (2021) Fête Galante, Heaven Gallery, Chicago (2020), Still Here, Newington Gallery, London (2019), Chains, Central Park Gallery, Los Angeles (2019), HEADS, The Java Project, Brooklyn (2017), Contemporary British Painting Prize, London (2016), Biennial Of Painting: The Painter’s Touch, Museum of Deinze, Belgium (2014), PAPER, Saatchi Gallery, London (2013) and Jerwood Drawing Prize, London (2012). Her work is featured in New American Paintings No. 134 Northeast Issue, and in 100 Painters of Tomorrow published by Thames and Hudson (2014).