Tom Poelmans – The Magic Market

rodolphe janssen is pleased to announce the third solo exhibition of Belgian artist Tom Poelmans at the gallery, which will run from 22 February to 27 April 2024 at Livourne 32.

A few distant rustles of cars sound diluted by the echoes of passers-by crowding the stalls. They watch in search of this rare, idyllic piece. Meanwhile, The Magic Market by Tom Poelmans takes on a somehow surrealist air.

A myriad of drawings, precisely 120, intertwine, giving way to a procession of narratives. Pastels, stamps, pen, black and white or vividly coloured, these drawings sketch out a host of characters, demons, demonesses, or figures with Greek overtones, cats, snakes, tigers, skulls, masks, or busts, escorted by a plethora of small objects. Tom Poelmans unveils a universe highlighting compositions rich in symbols and teeming with allegories. Besides, he pays homage to the great masters quoted in various books and catalogs covers. Inevitably, the figure of the painter resonates, either through the image of his attributes or sometimes as a full-length figure, with his palette and brushes in hand.

Alongside them, a monumental oil on canvas depicts a crowd of protagonists, passers-by, witnesses, or spectators to the theatre unfolding before our eyes.

About the artist

(1984 in Belgium. Lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium)

Whenever Tom Poelmans starts to paint, he is flooded with a rather innocent and spontaneous thought that he can freely paint whatever he wants, through his floating brushstrokes on the canvas. Each of his creation inevitably faces that illusion of free will that he himself claims. The final painting is undoubtedly the result of this struggle. It is a journey into the author’s mind, based on infinite possibilities, a process that begins witha drawing and then ends with a decidedly unpredictable pictorial image. His work shows an exceptional and intricate heterogeneity, with a dreamlike vocation rich in symbols, allegories and metaphors, characterized both by precise compositions and by confident and material brushstrokes, covering every inch of the surfaces he uses.

His work has recently been exhibited at Anna Zorina Gallery, New York, NY USA; rodolphe janssen, Brussels,Belgium; Andrea Festa Fine Art, Rome, Italy; Ballroom Project, Antwerp, Belgium; Jack Barrett Gallery, East Hampton, New York, NY USA; the White Whale Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium; The Cabin, Los Angeles, CA USA; SecondRoom, Antwerp, Belgium; Tatjana Pieters, Ghent, Belgium; Garage, Mechelen, Belgium; DMW-Artspace, Antwerp, Belgium; Base-Alpha Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium; SVA, New York, NY USA; and Be-Part, Waregem, Belgium.