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Sean Kelly is delighted to present A Harmony Parallel to Nature, the first solo exhibition of Ilse D’Hollander at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, and her first exhibition on the West Coast. Spanning the entirety of her career 1989–1997, the exhibition presents a survey of paintings and works on paper drawn from the artist’s estate including To Goethe, 1991, one of only three known serial bodies of work made by the artist. This remarkable selection of paintings emphasizes the lyrical and metamorphic character of D’Hollander’s oeuvre ­— qualities inherent to the processes found in nature that influenced her approach as a painter. 

Ilse D'Hollander - A Harmony Parallel To Nature - 展覽 - Sean Kelly Gallery

A Harmony Parallel to Nature, takes its name from an excerpt found in a letter Paul Cézanne wrote to one of his dear friends in the 1890s. In it, Cezanne proclaimed that art should be a “harmony parallel to nature,” as opposed to an imitation of nature. In his estimation, the artist was not to be bound by notions of representing reality, but rather, to consider the ways in which the viewer can develop their own interpretations.

Ilse D'Hollander - A Harmony Parallel To Nature - 展覽 - Sean Kelly Gallery

As a painter, D’Hollander’s intuition led her to arrive at a practice which combined total abstraction with discernable elements of the natural world. The subject matter of her paintings encompasses bursts of thick pigments suggesting the nuances of the everchanging landscapes of the Flemish countryside to the geometric configurations of the interior of her studio.

 

"A painting arises out of the convergence of thoughts and the act of painting itself." 

- Ilse D'Hollander

 

Ilse D'Hollander - A Harmony Parallel To Nature - 展覽 - Sean Kelly Gallery

Ilse D’Hollander’s highly poignant body of work demonstrates a profoundly developed sense of linear compositions, intense shifts in color, and richly textured surfaces. Through the use of a sophisticated palette in her pared down compositions, D’Hollander’s paintings highlight the rich dialogue between representation and abstraction.

Ilse D'Hollander - A Harmony Parallel To Nature - 展覽 - Sean Kelly Gallery

Her canvasses invite viewers to become immersed in the work, in which layers of paint bring out the subtle changes of hue, visible brushstrokes, and trembling lines of color with a humanistic touch revealing D’Hollander’s tangible and sensual exploration of the medium.

 

"All the more, what remains fundamental is the viewer who is focusing his eyes on my paintings."

- Ilse D'Hollander

 

Ilse D'Hollander - A Harmony Parallel To Nature - 展覽 - Sean Kelly Gallery

In the only extant text D’Hollander is known to have written about her work, she observed, “a painting comes into being when ideas and the act of painting coincide. When referring to ideas, it implies that as a painter, I am not facing my canvas as a neutral being but as an acting being who is investing into the act of painting.”

Ilse D'Hollander - A Harmony Parallel To Nature - 展覽 - Sean Kelly Gallery

It is through this investment that the artist was able to expertly cross back and forth between the subtly representational and the purely abstract, between her interior and exterior realms. Her work provokes extended contemplation and exists as a remarkable testament to the fundamental and generative act of painting.

Born in Belgium in 1968, Ilse D’Hollander graduated from the Hoger Instituut voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp, in 1988, and the Hoger Instituut voor Beelende Kunsten, St. Lucas, Ghent in 1991. Her work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at institutions including The Arts Club, London; FRAC Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France; and M Museum, Leuven, Belgium. She has also been featured in group exhibitions at the Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium; the Provinciaal Cultuurcentrum Caermersklooster, Ghent, Belgium; and the Center for Contemporary Non-Objective Art, Brussels, Belgium amongst others.

For additional information on Ilse D’Hollander, please visit skny.com

For media inquiries, please email Brandon Tho Harris at Brandon@skny.com

For all other inquiries, please email Thomas Kelly at Thomas@seankellyla.com or Janine Cirincione at Janine@skny.com

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Installation view of Ilse D’Hollander: A Harmony Parallel to Nature at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles, November 22, 2023–January 13, 2024, Photography: Brica Wilcox, Courtesy: Sean Kelly

Ilse D'Hollander Untitled, 1995

Ilse D'Hollander
Untitled, 1995
oil on canvas
painting: 13 7/8 x 13 7/8 x 3/4 inches (35.2 x 35.2 x 1.9 cm)
framed: 14 3/8 x 14 3/8 x 1 3/4 inches (36.5 x 36.5 x 4.4 cm)
with accompanying certificate of authenticity signed by Ric Urmel, Executor of the Estate
IDH-P.212

Ilse D'Hollander Untitled, 1996

Ilse D'Hollander
Untitled, 1996
oil on canvas
painting: 24 7/8 x 21 11/16 inches (63.2 x 55.1 cm)
framed: 25 7/8 x 22 7/16 x 1 3/4 inches (65.7 x 57 x 4.4 cm)
with accompanying certificate of authenticity signed by Ric Urmel, Executor of the Estate
IDH-P.300

Ilse D'Hollander Untitled, 1995

Ilse D'Hollander
Untitled, 1995
oil on canvas
painting: 17 3/4 x 13 13/16 x 3/4 inches (45.1 x 35.1 x 1.9 cm)
framed: 18 1/4 x 14 5/16 x 1 3/4 inches (46.4 x 36.4 x 4.4 cm)
dated by the artist
work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by Ric Urmel, Executor of the Estate
IDH-P.084

Ilse D'Hollander Untitled, 1995

Ilse D'Hollander
Untitled, 1995
oil on canvas
painting: 19 9/16 x 15 11/16 x 3/4 inches (49.7 x 39.8 x 1.9 cm)
framed: 20 1/16 x 16 5/16 x 1 3/4 inches (51 x 41.4 x 4.4 cm)
work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by Ric Urmel, Executor of the Estate
IDH-P.162

Ilse D'Hollander Untitled, 1996

Ilse D'Hollander
Untitled, 1996
gouache on paper
paper: 13 1/4 x 9 1/2 inches (33.7 x 24.1 cm)
framed: 25 1/2 x 20 13/16 x 1 3/4 inches (64.8 x 52.9 x 4.4 cm)
work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by Ric Urmel, Executor of the Estate
IDH-WP.G356

Ilse D'Hollander Untitled, 1995

Ilse D'Hollander
Untitled, 1995
gouache on paper
paper: 5 1/8 x 4 15/16 inches (13 x 12.5 cm)
framed: 17 3/8 x 16 1/4 x 1 3/4 inches (44.1 x 41.3 x 4.4 cm)
work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by Ric Urmel, Executor of the Estate
IDH-WP.G664

Ilse D'Hollander Untitled, 1992

Ilse D'Hollander
Untitled, 1992
gouache on paper
paper: 12 3/16 x 9 1/16 inches (31 x 23 cm)
framed: 24 9/16 x 20 3/8 x 1 3/4 inches (62.4 x 51.8 x 4.4 cm)
work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by Ric Urmel, Executor of the Estate
IDH-WP.G047

Ilse D'Hollander Untitled, 1990/1991

Ilse D'Hollander
Untitled, 1990/1991
mixed media on cardboard
artwork: 27 15/16 x 39 3/8 inches (71 x 100 cm)
framed: 34 1/2 x 46 1/4 x 2 inches (87.6 x 117.5 x 5.1 cm)
work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by Ric Urmel, Executor of the Estate
IDH-CB.MM19

Ilse D'Hollander Untitled, 1990/1991

Ilse D'Hollander
Untitled, 1990/1991
mixed media on cardboard
artwork: 27 15/16 x 39 3/8 inches (71 x 100 cm)
framed: 34 1/2 x 46 1/4 x 2 inches (87.6 x 117.5 x 5.1 cm)
signed by the artist, verso with accompanying certificate of authenticity signed by Ric Urmel, Executor of the Estate
IDH-CB.MM21