THE 20 YEARS ANNIVERSARY SHOW
and inauguration of Alice Gallery's NEW SPACE in Ixelles

ARTISTS : Jeffrey Cheung - Sune Christiansen - Eric Colonel & Thomas Spit - Steve Dehoux - Antoine Detaille - Ekta - Aurélie Gravas - Maya Hayuk - Invader - Todd James - Jean Jullien - Nicolas Jullien - Olivier Kosta-Théfaine - Gwendal Lebec - Rhys Lee - Brian Lotti - Alicia McCarthy - Jérôme Meynen - Momo - Parra - Steve Powers - Philémon Siesling - Boris Tellegen - Paul Wackers - BYZ Bruno Brunet

A group exhibition revolving around the theme ’Empathy’

With work by: Kenneth Aidoo, Sam Andrea, Celine van den Boorn, Stijn ter Braak, Aldo van den Broek, Koos Buster, Tina Farifteh, Roos van Haaften, Tja Ling Hu, Ayşen Kaptanoğlu, Su Melo, Parra, Maurice van Tellingen , Koen Vermeule, Theo Wesselo

We celebrate our new location with the group exhibition ‘Promise that you will sing about me’. An exhibition that revolves around the theme Empathy. In the exhibition, a selection of artists present paintings, ceramic works, photographs, and installations that directly or indirectly reflect on the theme of empathy, explore the notion of empathy, or show works that evoke empathy.

In the 19th century, philosophers of aesthetics reflected on why art evoked emotions in people. They proposed the idea that art personifies, activating the viewer's memories and emotions. Empathy was the mysterious element that connected the artwork with the observer. In a hardened and divided world, we are quick to judge. We often make decisions based on feelings, prejudices, or first impressions. Art provides the means to clear this mental fog and introduces us to the stories of people across time and space. For its first exhibition in the new gallery, Vriend van Bavink presents a theme that may be particularly relevant in an era where empathy is sometimes viewed by some as a weakness.

Aldo van den Broek, Johnny Mae Hauser, Parra, Koos Buster, Anouk Kruithof, Maurice van Tellingen , Aldert Mantje (G4)

There’s Parra the painter, the musician, the fashion designer, the former skateboarder, the graphic designer... Some prefer him with a brush, others on wheels or behind turntables, ultimately it is undeniable that this multifaceted individual has a fascinating side that might even make us a little jealous. However, he is not the only one of his kind, and versatility may even be the key to their success.

On the occasion of his second solo exhibition at the gallery, the Dutch artist presents a new series of paintings and drawings. There is more mystery and less pop compared to 2015. The woman has lost her bird-like beak, the brushstroke appears subtly, and the color palette is slightly darker. Landscapes and feminine silhouettes remain the only subjects embraced by the painter. However, the sobriety achieved here is counterbalanced by a more sophisticated composition than before. The exhibited drawings perfectly illustrate his gift for finding balance on the page with the tip of his pencil. Coherence and simplicity remain cardinal virtues in Parra's work. They seem to offer him an inexhaustible source of original ideas, while concealing the sweat that beads on the artist's brow as he works, revealing only the poetry.

Shrouded in a near-Art Deco grace, the works on display in Brussels shine with elegance.

Parra (1976), whose unmistakable style of rich color and playful precision moves on the edge of abstraction and figuration, has been celebrated by international galleries and championed by a devout underground following, Parra has become a respected artist, through solo exhibitions spanning Asia, the United States, and Europe. He is generally regarded as a founder of a contemporary style that is enigmatic and instantly recognizable and that refers to early 20th-century art movements and painters. In his paintings and sculptures the female form often serves as the protagonist. The scenes in Parra’s painting communicate strong emotions and powerful gestures that hint at a personal narrative.

For the first time in the Netherlands, Gallery Vriend van Bavink offers a gallery presentation by Parra. In recent years Parra has presented successful solo exhibitions in galleries in Paris, Bangkok, New York and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among other places. In the Netherlands he has mainly presented sculptural work in the public space and a museum setting. He has previously exhibited work in the Kunsthal Rotterdam and the museum Het Hem.

Where Parra’s distinctive female figures with their expansive gestures formed the protagonists in his preceding show in Paris last year, this time they seem to be less prominent and leave the canvas to the unfolding of landscapes and their natural elements depicted through the artist’s very own lens and in his distinctive style emerging from it.

In their flat, graphic precision and opaque coloring, the single elements develop an autonomy that plays with the canvas, creating its own frames and borders. Permeated with small mistakes in perspective, like visual glitches after staring into the sun for one glimpse too long, the works seem to capture a space between reality and abstraction.

Depicting some of the most traditional motifs in the history of art and painting, they are enriched by centuries of tradition and are both simultaneously a homage to and emancipation from their heritage.

Parra’s well-known, dog-like creatures complement the show as bronzes, translating the dynamic of their graceful forms into the static of a sculpture. They too are part of a communication in fragments, that at the same time demands to be viewed independently, as well as in mutual relation and reference.

Parra presents his third solo exhibition Hold on to your mini horse at Ruttkowski;68 in Paris.

Parra’s unmistakeable style of rich color, graphic shapes and playful precision moves on the edge of abstraction and figuration. The female form, with expansive gestures and a strong body language, serves as the protagonist in most of the paintings. It tells the context of the scene by setting itself apart from the background and then, seamlessly reinserting back into it. In the fleeting moment of a movie scene on pause lies a graphic perfection, a planned spontaneity, a polarizing connection, a public intimacy of the domestic scenery.

Each work demands to be viewed autonomously, stands independently and unfolds uniquely. The viewers get served snippets of this story, that they must tell themselves and is created by their own personal references, memories and thoughts.

The abstract landscapes seem abandoned, as if the viewer appeared too late or too early for the story. This supposed emptiness opens up into a frame, that then makes the composition of form and color itself the protagonist of a story, depicting a shallow suffering of everyday life through the distant lens of irony.

I'M JUST HAPPY WE GOT A CAT sees Parra's stylized female subjects exploring themes of the mundane, domestic life in all its tediousness. We see them resting, in conversation, passing the time, always indoors. When there is daylight visible through windows, it’s not that they can’t reach it, but that it’s no longer of interest.

Each day repeats itself in these scenes and his subjects become further abstracted in their monotony. A far cry from the pop influences of his early work, I'M JUST HAPPY WE GOT A CAT' shows Parra carefully exploring early Cubism with six new, beautifully restrained scenes we - maybe now more than ever- can all relate to.