Tom Poelmans. A Spirit in Painting

With A Spirit in Painting, Antwerp-based artist Tom Poelmans reveals the reverse sides of a wide selection of works spanning the past fifteen years, exhibited in the side gallery at KIOSK. Poelmans shows the reverse sides of a wide selection of paintings made over the past fifteen years. These unseen backs often bear titles, dates, sketches, material traces, and other marks: silent witnesses to the process and the life of the studio.

On December 6, two weeks prior to the closing of the show, all works will be turned around, revealing their front sides for the first time. That same day, the book A Spirit in Painting will be launched, published by MER. Alongside front and back views of a broad selection of works, the book includes drawings and poems by Tom Poelmans, as well as texts by people close to him.

The title of both the exhibition and the publication is a nod to the legendary 1981 show A New Spirit in Painting, held at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. That historic exhibition marked a renewed appreciation of painting as a medium, and offers a meaningful backdrop to Poelmans’ reflection on his own practice.