Plus One Gallery in Antwerp brings together an impressive list of artists for a flowers show

A blooming group show about the infinite inspiration of flowers

On March 19, a group exhibition on the theme of flowers opens at PLUS ONE gallery in Antwerp, including work by artists such as Anton Henning, Keith Haring, Walter Swennen, John Nobel, Guillaume Bijl, Stefan Marx, Erik Parker, Sven ’t Jolle, Slang Geismar and Uwe Henneken.

Flowers have been fascinating artists for centuries. Even Piet Mondriaan drew and painted flowers during his entire life. They seem to be an infinite source of inspiration, not only in form and image, but also as an icon, a symbol of femininity, and as a metaphor for fragility, impermanence and beauty.

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A PERSONAL STORY
The exhibition combines recent works of a new generation of artists (Nel Aerts, Erik Parker, Stevie Dix, Michael Pybus) with works from the 70s and 80s, and thus connects for the first time the gallery PLUS ONE, run by Jason Poirier dit Caulier, and the former gallery X-One of his father Marc, where artists such as Guy Mees and Bernd Lohaus exhibited.

In this respect, the choice of the theme of the exhibition has also a personal origin. Flowers in artworks indeed proved to be the first point of understanding and mutual love between father and son Poirier dit Caulier. Gallery owner Jason Poirier dit Caulier:

"When my father showed me the small inflatable flowers by Jeff Koons in the 80s, I was euphoric. Until then, I had grown up in a home where minimalism and conceptual art were the topics of conversation. As a teenager, I missed a visual language that attracted me. But when my father organized the intimate exhibition Blümen in 1985, with works by Bernd Lohaus, and in the same period I discovered Koons’ flowers, my interest for contemporary art was finally awoken. After that, I discovered Barbara Kruger, Haim Steinbach, Richard Prince, and of course Keith Haring."

The exhibition aims to be an infinite discovery. Because this is almost impossible to organize within the timeframe and the space of a conventional exhibition, PLUS ONE gallery sets up a number of experiments. First and foremost, there will be a different 'accrochage' during the exhibition. Also, a publication is planned for 2018. But the infinite theme is also demonstrated by an experiment on the social media platform Instagram. Instagram is, today more than ever, a platform where artists, galleries and curators find their liking. Although the experience of discovering artworks on a small screen is very different from seeing the real thing, this is a trend that we can not ignore. PLUS ONE gallery wants to stimulate the infinite and universal character of this exhibition and its theme by encouraging people to add works including flowers via Instagram, using the specific hashtag #infiniteflowersplusone. That way, this exhibition continues to live as an open story. A story of discovery…

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Participating artists: