In Brussels this autumn, Hans Op de Beeck debuts Vanishing Point at Almine Rech, a solo exhibition devoted to his meditative, monochromatic sculptures. Opening September 10 and continuing through November 7, the presentation gathers recent works that dwell on stillness, estrangement, and the pull of memory.
Op de Beeck often coats his sculptures in matte gray, stripping away color to foreground form, light, and shadow. Many pieces are life-size, encouraging unhurried encounters: a calm figure reclines on a chaise lounge beside a fawn, while a framed seascape finds its definition solely in tonal contrasts. Elsewhere, a lily-specked pond and a nostalgic carousel poised atop a spindly stand hint at scenes poised between hush and potential movement. Displayed together, the array of objects, figures, and animals acquires a w fcnderkammer quality; seen individually, they register as muted curiosities or parts of a puzzle. His art does not explainit suggests, the gallery says.
The exhibition title refers to the drawing term in which parallel lines converge toward a distant point, and a statement extends that idea: Op de Beeck uses it as a metaphor for those moments when the concrete and rational give way to something less tangiblememory, imagination, introspection, or the feeling of briefly slipping outside time. Works like Orrery (Loss) heighten this tension between poise and motion, inviting viewers to imagine the instant before a mechanism stirs or a tableau changes state.
Selected works and materials
- Pond (Roe Deer) (2026), mixed media, 19 1/2 x 78 1/2 x 78 1/2 inches.
- Orrery (Loss) (2025), mixed media, 91 1/2 x 51 x 51 inches.
- Small Blue Still Life (1) (2026), mixed media, 16 x 20 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches.
- Autumn Pond (2025), mixed media, 45 1/2 x 45 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches. Edition 2 of 3, plus 2 APs.
- Tangerines (2026), polyester, wood, and coating, 11 x 14 x 2 inches.
- C e9cile (2026), mixed-media, life-size sculpture.
- Seascape (2022), polyester, metal, and coating.
Across these pieces, the pared-back palette sharpens attention to surface, relief, and the quiet dramaturgy of everyday motifs set in uncanny relation. Photographs are by Hugard & Vanoverschelde; images are courtesy of the artist and Almine Rech.
Vanishing Point unfolds as a study in resonance rather than explanation, drawing visitors toward that figurative horizon where perception meets recollectionand where time seems briefly to recede.
