ILSE D'HOLLANDER

D'Hollander's subtly evocative canvases have drawn comparisons to work as various as that of early Piet Mondrian, Nicolas de Staël and Raoul De Keyser—whom she regarded as a friend—her work is distinguished by its contemplative tranquility, ethereal quality and brilliant, deceptive simplicity. The intimate scale of her canvases invites the viewer to embrace a highly personal relationship with the work, where multiple layers of paint, visible brushstrokes and trembling lines of colour reveal D'Hollander's tangible and sensual exploration of the act of painting. In the only text she penned about her work, D'Hollander wrote that, 'A painting comes into being when ideas and the act of painting coincide. When referring to ideas, it implies that as a painter, I am not facing my canvas as a neutral being but as an acting being who is investing into the act of painting. My being is present in my action on the canvas.'

Courtesy Sean Kelly