Hans Soenen

art & design productions

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Personal invitation for the new duo exhibition

Constructions/ de-constructions

Sabine blanchard

October 17 to November 16

The exhibition opens on Thursday, October 17 at 10:00 a.m., which is the first day of the Wonder Festival Kortrijk, and runs until November 16.

New Location

Wijngaardstraat winkel 064, 8500 Kortrijk

Accros the interior design stores ART-COCO and Gyselinck Design

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An exhibition featuring monumental abstract paintings in acrylic by Hans Soenen and collages/montages
by Sabine Blanchard.
‍
Both artists engage in dialogue through their contemporary works, inviting the viewer into their world of minimalism, geometric abstraction, sometimes referencing ethnic forms and refined purity in material and color use. Working on pure linen with H. Soenen or composing with industrial materials with S. Blanchard. Above all, their art conveys a powerful positive and visual message to the viewer.‍

The gallery Art and Design Productions is a new permanent gallery for contemporary arts in the heart of Kortrijk, located at Wijngaardstraat 23, opposite the interior shops Art – COCO and Gyselinck DESIGN. The curator and owner of the gallery is Hans Soenen, an artist and industrial designer with 40 years of experience. The gallery presents exhibitions at the intersection of art and design, featuring changing thematic exhibitions.

Opening hours

Galerie ART and
DESIGN PRODUCTIONS

Design Corner: 25/10 - 27/10
Art Weekend 26/10 & 27/10

Thursday 17/10

10:00 - 18:00

Friday 18/10

10:00 - 18:00

Saturday 19/10

10:00 - 18:00

Sunday 20/10

10:00 - 18:00

Thursday 24/10

10:00 - 18:00

Friday 25/10

10:00 - 18:00

Art
Weekend

Saturday 26/10

10:00 - 18:00

Sunday 27/10

10:00 - 18:00

Design
Corner

Thursday 31/10

10:00 - 18:00

Friday 1/11

10:00 - 18:00

Saturday 2/11

10:00 - 18:00

Sunday 3/11

10:00 - 18:00

Wednesday 6/11

14:00 - 18:00

Friday 8/11

14:00 - 18:00

Saturday 9/11

14:00 - 18:00

Wednesday 13/11

14:00 - 18:00

Friday 15/11

14:00 - 18:00

Saturday 16/11

14:00 - 18:00

www.artanddesignproductions.be

New GalleryNew opening hoursNew location

AUTUMN EXPOSITIONs 2024

about
Hans soenen

Art & Design Productions

For four decades, Belgian artist and designer Hans Soenen has been passionate about art and design. After his five-year course at School of Arts Sint-Lucas in Ghent, he quickly emerged as a gifted draughtsman. From the start, he paid particular attention to the play between light and shadow. It did not take him long to break through with his drawings, lithographs, watercolors and monumental acrylic paintings.

“The architecture and plantations in the Royal Greenhouses harmonise with each other. The organic vegetation flows together with the beautiful steel trusses in Jugendstil. What’s more, it was completely quiet working there, the environment gave me inspiration for, let’s say, 1000 paintings. The oily reflections on the glass, the warm colours of the sunbeams on the leaves and flowers, the moving light spots, the heat, the humidity and the filtered rays through the lime-stained windows, give this location a unique atmosphere.” - Hans Soenen

To the public, Soenen is best known for his 'Laeken Suite'; a series of some 160 watercolors and drawings of the Royal Greenhouses of Laeken. For four years, Soenen was given the privilege of depicting the greenhouses undisturbed and exclusively. It became a magnificent series that is enduring because of its beautiful color palette and the contrast between organic forms and austere architecture. Like no other, Soenen knows how to suggest light and play with shadow.He later refined his technique in similar series abroad. These included a series on the island of Mainau, located in southern Germany. Soenen made drawings and paintings of the light-flooded botanical gardens there. In these paintings, we see a looser and more suggestive style as a precursor to his attract work. In Spain, he drew inspiration from the famous gardens of the Real Alcazar in Seville and el Jardines de Alfabia. The graphic patterns of Moorish art, such as azulejos, foreshadowed a change in his style.

Constructions 2024

In CONSTRUCTIONS, this artist-designer passionate by art and design, brings balanced compositions on monumental canvases of beautiful linen. The pure linen is part of the work. The colours, compositions and materials merge into one. In his work, we see the balance between ratio and emotion, dynamism and tautness, colouristic and monochrome, spontaneity and control. All this results in timeless compositions in a purified colour palette.

Landscapes of water and Wood 2023

Four decades of experience and craftsmanship mean that Soenen does not shy away from any technical difficulties. The works from the 'water' collection are reminiscent of Claude Monet's later work, which evolve from the 'wood' collection into pure rhythmic areas of color and compositions in a strong balance.

Soenen opts for a square or panoramic format in this series. This is how the abstract landscapes of wood and water structures come into their own. Due to their balanced composition, the works exude tranquility and dynamism at the same time. By working with organic shapes, everything seems to flow into each other. This also applies to the colors, structures and brushwork.

Reflections 2023

"Reflections"
Monumental, vertical, and panoramic abstract acrylic paintings reflect on the things we pass by every day. The capture or attempted capture of the very moment in which we perceive something. The accidental reflections on glass or water, flat or curved, surprise in their simplicity. It is not the subject that matters but what the light does to the subject. The artist translates this 'looking at' into paint, taking the viewer into his world of wonder. Suggestive, moving, with elusive compositions without end or beginning, a capture of the wondrous now.

COMPOSITIONS

New series of abstract works coming

Over the years, Soenen credited more than 20 exhibitions. Before that, he collaborated with several galleries including L. Pieters in Knokke. His works ended up in public and private collections at home and abroad. He also participated in aretrospective at KMSKA in Antwerp and had his own retrospective at the Noordbrabants Museum in 's-Hertogenbosch (NL).Soenen is not only a free artist, but he also earned his place in the world of industrial design with, among other things, ten years of experience in industrial textile design. He is co-founder of the 'Industrial Engineer Industrial Design' course at the Design Center Howest and helped pave the way to 'UNESCO Design Region Kortrijk' by organizing many design exhibitions. He co-founded 'Week van het Ontwerpen', which he coordinated for 12 years, and which is now known as Wonderfestival Kortrijk. In 2022, he curated the exhibition 'Best of Belgian FoodPhotography' for the ‘Week van de Smaak’ - ‘Week of Tase’ POM W-Vl.

BO BOGAERT Journalist – editor