NK Gallery is pleased to present BEAUTY IN DESTRUCTION, the group exhibition of the artists of the gallery: Kirill Chelushkin, Stief Desmet, Didier Mahieu, Hans Vandekerckhove and Guy Slabbinck.

Violence has become a best seller in the modern day world, and we all - its willing consumers. One swallows a portion of violence together with morning cereals from the spreadsheet of the daily newspaper, next portion flows from the radio news as you drive, then it catches your glimpse on the phone screen as you take lunch, only to have a break till the evening, when the full meal is served at the precious prime-time. Household fights, terrorist attacks, destruction of heritage and nature, countries in conflicts, xenophobia and nationalism rising – the choice is wide at your disposal. Don’t forget to select a bloody crime / action / thriller from the digital TV supplier menu as a desert. Fully satisfied. Unavoidably, contemporary art reflects this craze.

BEAUTY IN DESTRUCTION includes the works, in which the artists express their visions on contemporary society submerged into conflicts on different levels. Kirill Chelushkin’s graphite drawings on canvas, triptych “Fight I”, “Fight II” and “Fight III” show the scenes of aggression outburst, where dressed up men, possibly members of parliament, suddenly turn into animals in their wild fight; faces are covered with tattoos, as if the artist’s hand put stigmas on the sinners. The close-up manner of depiction turns a viewer of Chelushkin’s work into a spectator of the mesmerizing dance, merry-go-round, the celebration of chaos. Stief Desmet’s sculptures “Monument to a Broken Capreolus” and “The Second Coming”, which refers to the poem by the Irish poet W.B. Yeates written in the aftermath of the First World War in 1919, make a link to the concepts of the decline of European civilization and its apocalyptic agonic state. The fairy-tale figures, usually associated with serenity and joy, are cut in pieces (the reindeer) or have received unnatural extensions (the porcelain figure of Snow White turns into nightmarish creature protruding from the mass of plaster). Still recognizable though, aren’t they beautiful? In Didier Mahieu’s photo dyptich, showing the girl coming out of the tunnel, the darkness, the unknown attracts the attention, as the eye follows the lonely figure of the lost refugee. Will a viewer think what is awaiting her, pushed by the tired in conflicts world, or admire the composition and play of shadow and light? Guy Slabbinck’s painting “Death of Sardanapalus” pays tribute to work by Eugene Delacroix from 1844. Based on the story of the last king of Assyria, it shows a man lying on his large bed overseeing the scene of chaos with disinterested eye, the king willing to destroy all of his possessions, including people and luxurious goods. The stone elephants’ heads, decorating the bed, from Delacroix painting, turned into what looks like heads of live animals together with the disappearing figures of the horse, the female bodies without heads make the scene surreal. Whereas Delacroix at his time was blamed for “the fanaticism of ugliness”, do we feel enchanted by this dream-like happening? As a counter balance to the chaos, the work by Hans Vandekerckhove “Cristina” places a viewer on the doorstep of a terrace behind the woman’s back. Dressed in Japanese gown, she is observing the mountains, artist’s typical symbol of spirituality. The time stands still, material and spirit are in balance, lines of the interior are straight and welcoming, the sky is clear. The rocks, which are themselves the result of a natural violent force, the shift of platforms, will remain there long after a human with his distress, violence and conflicts will pass away.

Kirill Chelushkin (°1968, lives and works in Paris and Moscow) practices art, which is essentially visual, focused on the surrounding reality. A true Renaissance man, he reveals his numerous talents through his creative work. Gifted a brilliant graphic skill and distinguished for the outstanding technique in graphite large-scale works, he alongside makes sculptures and video-installations. The artist had numerous solo and group exhibitions in Europe and the USA. His works are included in leading public and private collections, such as The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow; Itabishi Art Museum, Tokio; Bolzano Art Museum, Bolzano, Italy; Hero Hermes Collection, France; Bernard Arnault collection, France; ‘Ekaterina’ Foundation, Russia.

Stief Desmet(°1973, lives and works in Bachte-Maria-Leerne and Salmchâteau, BE) balances between two opposites, between culture and nature, between order and chaos. In his oeuvre he confronts  these opposite poles and combines them in a single work, in the hope to create a balance. The fundamental restlessness, typical for this artist, results in a broad spectrum of disciplines that he masters within his studio. Depending on the way, in which his concept is best translated, Desmet creates paintings, collages, installations, sculptures and even videos and performances. He is the example of the all-round artist who is not attached to one well-chosen medium.

Didier Mahieu (°1961, lives and works in Mons, BE) treats the medium of painting, according to the late curator Willy Van den Bussche, in a romantic way. Every work seems to be a chapter of a story, would it be of an imaginary departure on a sail journey or a fictional reality, reminiscent of subconscious or underwater world. Works of Didier Mahieu are held in numerous private and public collections in Belgium and abroad, amongst others in the collections of The National Bank of Belgium, the collection of French Community, Museum of Fine Arts in Mons, Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lille.

Hans Vandekerckhove (°1957, lives and works in Gent, BE) being himself a philosopher and inspired by the spiritual minimalism of such architects Mies Van der Rohe and Peter Zumthor, diffuses the ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ in his canvases. The eye penetrates via the blurred enclosure of a room, a shelter, through a window into the metaphorical mountain landscape. A human figure, multiplied by its own reflection and opposed to light and confronted with the immortal nature, could be found in the artist’s architectural series. Vandekerckhove’s paintings are held in public collections, amongst others of Museum Kortrijk, Museum of Modern Art Ostend, Museum Midden (GE), Flemish Government, Central Bank of Europe, and in private collections in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, USA,  Singapore.

Guy Slabbinck (°1979, lives and works in Gent, BE) has studied painting in Sint Lucas Hogeschool and has developed since then his own peculiar style of figurative painting. Using oil on canvas, he depicts a kind of surreal world, inhabited by humans wearing masks, fantastic animals, monsters, mythologic and historic figures. He turns to the heritage of the 20th century artists, such as Delacroix, Manet, Picasso, to reinvent their paintings’ subjects in the new era. “My oil paintings need no declaration it is the viewer only who can explain the paintings”, says the artist. “Death of Sardanapalus”, based on the painting of Delacroix, shows Sardanapalus before he kills himself, but first his servants are killing each other.