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An artist from Belgium at a gallery in London’s Mayfair

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MICHAËL BORREMANS WAS born in Geraardsbegen in Belgium in 1963. He studied art in Ghent. This city and others nearby are rich in fine paintings by great Flemish artists such as Jan van Eyck, the Brueghels, Rubens, and Hugo van der Goes. These famous painters worked in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. Their work often has a particular kind of clarity, which is especially evident in the portraits they painted.

Two paintings by Borremans

The works of Borremans, which are on display at the David Zwirner gallery in London’s Mayfair until the 26th of July 2024, include portraits painted recently. Although they depict modern subjects, their visual quality and fine execution reminded me of the Flemish artists, who worked many centuries ago. Borremans paintings are not imitations of the works of the earlier Flemish artists but the effect his paintings have on me does not differ markedly from what I experience when viewing the Flemish art of many centuries ago.

Some of the paintings by Borremans depict the faces of monkeys dressed up in human clothes – 18th century painter’s garb. These paintings were inspired by a work created by Jean Siméon Chardin, who worked in the 18th century. The monkey depicted was not a real one, but a glazed porcelain model. I am not sure what message is being portrayed in these intriguing works.

The exhibition at Zwirner was well worth seeing. The pictures were well hung and beautifully lit, and a breath of fresh air, artistically speaking. Sadly, by the time you read this, it will be over.

Drawn to remember: an exhibition by an Indian painter

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THE PAINTER MAHESH BALIGA was born in the south Indian state of Karnataka in 1982. He studied painting at The Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts (CAVA) in Mysore, and then received a postgraduate qualification at the prestigious Faculty of Fine Arts, MSU, in Baroda (Vadodara in Gujarat). He has taught at various art schools in India and exhibited in several countries including India. Currently, he lives and works in Baroda. Between the 12th of April 2022 and the 28th of May 2022, some of his works are being exhibited in a solo exhibition, “Drawn to Remember”, at the David Zwirner Gallery in Grafton Street (in London’s West End).

The paintings on display were created using casein tempera. This kind of paint has a glue-like consistency, but it can be thinned with water. According to Wikipedia, artists like this kind of paint because:

“… unlike gouache, it dries to an even consistency, making it ideal for murals. Also, it can visually resemble oil painting more than most other water-based paints …”

At first glance, it is difficult to discern whether the Baliga’s paintings on display at Zwirner’s resemble water colours or oil paintings; some of them seem to look halfway between the two mediums. All of them, except one, are quite small canvases and without exception they are all attractive. The subject matter depicted in the works is varied, from studies of plants and animals to everyday scenes (often with depictions of Indian life) to the slightly unusual. An example of the latter is in the only large canvas of the show in which there is an image of a man with sticky plasters over his left eye. Another odd subject shows a man with flowers growing out of his shirt. This is appropriately named “Flowering Self”.

The small size of most of the paintings, which the artist described as ‘lap-sized’, has a reason. Many of them were executed on the journeys the artist made when commuting to and from Surat (in the south of Gujarat), where he held a teaching position for a while. Though they are not large paintings, each one of them provides a window on the artist’s experiences and and his take on them. Although the paintings are far from mundane, they are not over-dramatic or excessively visually challenging. The exhibition is well worth seeing.  I would be happy to hang any one of the works I saw at his exhibition on my walls at home.