ANN VERONICA JANSSENS

Axel Vervoordt Gallery is delighted to present the work of Ann Veronica Janssens (1956, United Kingdom). The Hong Kong gallery will show five new works of sculptures, each with its own play of colour and light subtly offering a different phenomenological experience.

Janssens work seeks to unbalance perceptive experience, by means of colour and light the artist activates space. The viewer’s gaze is triggered and looking at her work means being a part of it. Janssens isolates sensory experiences. She fragments them, reduces them to their most essential aspects and transforms these into abstract shapes, ephemeral materials, in a play with colour and light. The viewer is thus invited to become more aware of how they perceive space and what can be the impact of the slightest sensual stimulus.

Janssens’ Magic Mirror diffracts the light and projects colour into space. Though the mirror’s main tonality is pink, it is in fact colourless. Seeing colour becomes an active process. Only when the viewer experiences the work, i.e. when one tries to look at themselves in the mirror by moving their own body, different colours appear.

The three golden geometrical shapes seen are the space’s punctuation, providing a sense of rhythm. Janssens drenches pure forms – one circle and two squares – in a gold bath in order for them to capture and reflect light on a brilliant surface. Looking at their surface, the viewer sees blurred shapes and colours in which they can try to recognise themselves.

Janssens comments; “Gold is nature’s ultimate brilliance and its use in art carries a long historical tradition. Not only was it used to express economic value, it also often referred to untouchable space.”

The fifth work in the exhibition is a two-meter long beam of glass entirely coloured in black. The fragile quality of the glass, combined with the solidness of the bar and the density of the black gives this work an almost unworldly presence. The black glass absorbs light, yet seems to radiate from within. One might even imagine it to be the solidification of liquid oil that will start to flow again once it is touched.

With these five carefully selected sculptures, Ann Veronica Janssens will make her first solo show in Hong Kong at Axel Vervoordt Gallery.