Fringe

With Fringe, in the spring of 2019, the museum Dhondt-Dhaenens brings together the work of three painters: the Australian Jenny Watson, the Belgian Saskia Pintelon and the American William N. Copley. Hence the exhibition brings an exciting dialogue between three individuals who, with an extremely personal and often subversive interpretation of their environment, occupy a unique place within the contemporary art world.

These artists work(ed) mainly outside the regular art scene in Europe and America and develop(ed) an oeuvre that is highly innovative but resolutely defies any classification. Placing their work within one specific style or movement would miss the core of their comprehensive and often daring language of image and form. For each of these artists, the country where they create their work, the prevailing (pop) culture and the political climate form an important source of inspiration and initiate critical reflection. This approach always results in a quirky universe that is both polemic, personal and amusing. At the same time, a strong interest in language and identity, experimenting with materials and a preference for figuration and the narrative are points of interest connecting the work of these artists almost seamlessly.

The non-conventional character and the striking themes of these bodies of work are reflected in the title of the exhibition. Fringe refers in English to something that is considered peripheral, marginal, secondary or extreme in relation to something else.