The Wunderwall @ The Beach : At The Wunderwall Antwerp

This summer, The Wunderwall presents a group presentation that reflects on summer and the spirited atmosphere it creates. The summertime holds a certain longing, a desire that we have been building up to for months. Each artist in this group presentation tells its own story and carries out a specific artistic practice. However, they are all connected by a common ground: the sensation of summer.

Having grown up in an artistic context, Polly Huyghe soon fell for a creative outlet through music and ceramics. Her ceramic objects, whether they are beach balls or trumpets, take you along into her playful, imaginary world.

As an upcoming textile artist, Celina Vleugels creates tactile works to share her intimate reminiscences with the public. She intuitively translates personal impressions and memories into textile works using thread, textiles, hand embroidery, felt and recycled materials. The tactility in this work manages to both comfort and intrigue us.

Elise Debrock is often moved by the simple beauty of a landscape, object or scene, resulting in more intimate work in a smaller format. This Belgium-based painter always seeks for a balance between freedom and control, reason and irrationality. In some works she approaches her subject with an enormous patience, while in other paintings she works in a surprisingly breezy, intuitive way. 

Uninhibited and unfiltered, Ralf Kokke depicts playful fragments in his work, often created with thick brushstrokes and a rough texture. His immediate surroundings and spontaneous thoughts that sneak into his mind do not only feed his creative vision, but also awaken the spectator's imagination. With a mixture of happiness and a certain sadness, he creates an imaginative world of care-free moments the viewer might like to go to. 

The work of Geert Koekoeckx can be described as overwhelming; bizarre scenes carry the viewer along into the story and cause surprising reactions. Koekoeckx believes there is no point in painting a perfect world. His absurd-psychedelic visual language is enforced by the strong and bold colour palette that he incorporates, where he emphasizes on the colour pink. The controversial character provokes people to express their reactions.

Stijn Bastianen’s work is instantly recognisable: the rich colour palette and the high level of spontaneity and free expression carry us into another atmosphere, another world, as it were. 

His work is uninhibited, playful and stimulates your imagination. Through improvisation and countless associations, Bastianen translates his unprompted thoughts onto canvas.