°1990, Mortsel, BE Lives and works in Antwerp. Graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp in 2013 and from the University of Ghent in 2014.
Inspired by painting, cinema and his own neighbourhood, Pieter Jennes is the creator of a highly unique oeuvre. His very recognisable personal style draws on the work of Flemish painters from the 1920s, such as Jean Brusselmans and Gustave De Smet, but also Ensor, Otto Dix or Georg Grosz, African masks and folklore, the cinema of David Lynch and Werner Herzog.
In the past Jennes has exhibited in Bozar (Brussels), at the Warande (Turnhout), and at BE-PART (Kortrijk).
His work is in the collection of the Vlaamse Gemeenschap, M HKA Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, and the Belfius Collection.
Pieter Jennes is represented by Gallery Sofie Van de Velde and Nino Mier Gallery.
pieterjennes.com
Selected Solo Exhibitions
'Glad there is you', Frieze Seoul, Solo booth, Vacancy Gallery, KR 'A number of days lead to nothing', Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerp, BE Expo Chicago, Nino Mier Gallery, USA 'An apple can't be tired', Be-Part, Waregem, BE
'When weeds bloom', Nino Mier Gallery, LA, USA
'I can tell you stories', Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerp, BE 'Everybody's heard about the bird', PUBLIC Gallery, London, UK
'Tomorrow is so far away', Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerp, BE 'Opwaartse spuwende fonteinen en dwarrelende regen', AIP, Hoboken, BE
'I eat her lips and she eats mine', The White house Gallery, Lovenjoel, BE
Selected Group Exhibitions
Miart, Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Milan, IT
'Vacation II', Vacancy Gallery, Shanghai, CN
'Nada Miami', Nino Mier, Miami, USA
'Danser Brut', Bozar, Brussels, BE 'De Nacht', De Warande, Turnhout, BE 'L'heure bleue', Gallery Sofie Van de Velde & PLUS-ONE Gallery, Antwerp, BE 'Investec Cape Town Artfair', Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Cape Town, SA Art Rotterdam, Gallery Sofie Van de Velde & PLUS-ONE Gallery, Rotterdam, NL
Art Brussels, Gallery Sofie Van de Velde & PLUS-ONE Gallery, Brussels, BE 'Coup de foudre', Belfius Collectie, Art Brussels, BE Art Rotterdam, Gallery Sofie Van de Velde & PLUS-ONE Gallery, Rotterdam, NL 'Looking at the world through rose colored glasses', Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerp, BE
'SOFT?', Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerp, BE Showhouse JayJay, Antwerp, BE 'Red to brown', ABC klubhuis, Antwep, BE
Prizes
Nomination Gavere prize
Prize “Schildersprijs” for Painting of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts
Proost de Barsy prize for Painting of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts
Gezelligheid op een druiligere dag In collaboration with Posture Editions
Pieter Jennes Gelukkig in Amsterdam, 2023 Oil and collage on canvas 169 x 150 cm
Pieter Jennes I'm glad there is you, 2023 Oil and collage on canvas 200 x 190 cm
Pieter Jennes You always get the best, 2023 Oil and collage on canvas 190 x 240 cm
Pieter Jennes Something of the past is present, 2023 Oil and collage on canvas 190 x 170 cm
Pieter Jennes When look up?, 2023 Oil and collage on canvas 200 x 190 cm
Pieter Jennes A number of days lead to nothing 6, 2023 Collage on paper Collage: 60 x 73 cm Frame: 73 x 86 cm
Pieter Jennes A number of days lead to nothing 7, 2023 Collage on paper Collage: 58 x 53 cm Frame: 72,5 x 68,5 cm
Pieter Jennes We were looking for the giant shot, 2022 Oil and collage on canvas 200 x 170 cm
Pieter Jennes The earth is a fresh planet , 2022 Oil and collage on canvas 230 x 200 cm
Pieter Jennes Full of startling and beautiful things, 2022 Oil and collage on canvas 170 x 150 cm
Pieter Jennes Some tall tales are real, 2022 oil on canvas 180 x 150 cm
Pieter Jennes Il faut cultiver notre jardin, 2022 oil and collage on canvas 170 x 200 cm
Pieter Jennes Cherish & love, 2021 Oil on canvas 170 x 200 cm
Pieter Jennes Everybody: 'Who's that boy?!', 2021 Oil on canvas 150 x 180 cm
Pieter Jennes Snackbar, 2021 Oil on canvas 200 x 190 cm
Pieter Jennes
Pieter Jennes graduated in Fine Arts from The Royal Academie of fine Arts, Antwerp, 2013 in painting and earned a post graduate degree in curatorial studies from The Royal Academie of fine Arts & University of Gent, 2014.
He works across sculpture and painting. His artworks explores narratives of representation and becoming, as well as of inclusion and exclusion; and is particularly concerned with what are considered alternative historiographies. Pieter Jennes' paintings are flat - meaning perspectiveless and two-dimensional -they are graphically and rudimentally elaborated with roughly sketched, simply presented figures, with a preference for a reduced color palette of brick red and matt turquoise. Jennes looks back on old and contemporary cultural phenomena and shows us a new, composed story in the form of paintings, sculptures and drawings.
Jennes often paints scenes that are reminiscent of folklore or comic theater performances. His Dionysian dancers set up all possible faces. They wear masks of drunkenness, horror, boredom, or shame or apathy.
Serious and playful, hard and disarming, threatening and seductive. It is in the gaze of Pieter Jennes, it is the world of his paintings