Anna Ilsley, A sweet marriage, 2022, oil on canvas, 40 x 30

So happy together

Anna Ilsley & Dan Schein

16.9 - 8.10.2022

Opening: 16.09.2022 - kl 17 - 19

We are pleased to invite you to the opening So Happy Together showing new works by Dan Schein and Anna Ilsley.

The work practices of the two artists are presented side by side and engage in dialogue with each other in an exhibition devoted to the sensual and picturesque qualities of painting.

Both artists start from a world of figures, where logical laws and general abstinence have been thrown away in favor of a universe of character types who allow themselves to be swallowed up by nature, sex, each other and themselves.

Where Schein's well-known expressive and violent brushstrokes welcome a world of absurdity, mysterious and mythical scenes, Ilsley unites the almost sensitive transparent painting with female sexuality. The naked woman is an art historical archetype that, until a few hundred years ago, was exclusively created by (and for) the male gaze. In that context, women's sexuality has been both a curiosity and a subject for debate and shame. Ilsley retells and interprets the naked female body, where the male gaze is omitted in favor of Ilsley's own. The result is a loving and humorous treatment of female sexuality. The same love and humor with Schein, who also presents his characters with an excess and a slight indulgence.

So Happy Togetheris the second time we show the two artists side by side in an  exhibition where the painting, with its narrative strength, explores and treats the aspects of human life that are not necessarily always put on public display, but which are nevertheless part of humanity itself.

Dan Schein, Untitled, 2021, oil on canvas, 132 x 195  

Anna Ilsley, The pleated skirt of the housekeeper, 2022, oil on canvas 131 x 100  

Anna Ilsley, Odalisque, 2022, Oil on canvas, 28 x 35  

Dan Schein, Side Leg Lifts in the Morning Breeze, 2022, oil on canvas, 35 x 45 cm  

Dan Schein, Human Sacrifice Regrets Volunteering for the role of Human Sacrifice, 2022, oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm