Els Nouwen’s work is hard to pin down. Her paintings typically begin with a photographic image, either from the media, art history or her personal archive, that she transfers to canvas with great technical precision. However, just when it seems settled, the disruption begins.

Nouwen overpaints, scratches, wipes away, or adds. Rough textures and abrupt colour contrasts disrupt the illusion of recognition. Her paintings hover between figuration and abstraction, between order and chaos, between image and material.

In an era of visual saturation and polished imagery, Nouwen unveils the ragged seams of perception. She invites us to look slowly, to tolerate ambiguity. Her work demonstrates how quickly we assign meaning, and how little certainty that offers.

Els Nouwen (b. 1968) lives and works in Antwerp. She studied painting at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and philosophy at the University of Antwerp.

Previous exhibitions include Ruimte Morguen, Behind Bars – ruimte voor kunst (2014-2024), Workplace and Secondroom in Antwerp, Waldburger Wouters Gallery in Brussels, WARP in Sint-Niklaas and Albert van Abbehuis in Eindhoven, among others.

Her work can be found in public collections, including M Leuven, for which the Flemish Community purchased Oxo (2019-2020) in 2021.