Location: Antwerp Expo, Antwerp, Belgium

Solo exhibition: Dittmar Viane

For his solo exhibition at Art Antwerp 2024, Dittmar Viane introduces a new series of works that blends elements of the past and present. His works remind us of the fleeting nature of the moment, as well as the immortality of art, which offers deeper insights into ourselves and the world around us.

Dittmar Viane’s work draws on the rich tradition of Early Netherlandish painting, blending its realist techniques with contemporary visual paradoxes. Influenced by masters like Dirk Bouts and Hans Memling, Viane employs oil paint and fine brushes to achieve delicate transitions and lifelike transparency through glazing. His meticulous use of subtle dark tones enhances depth and binds his color palette.

Viane’s paintings, such as Swallowtail (2024), The Forbidden Fruit, The Apple of Thorns (2024) and Eyed Hawk (2024) offer uncanny yet realistic, almost biological depictions that play with perspective, creating disorienting yet captivating visual experiences.

Viane’s works play with time, material, and meaning, using paint as a means to reveal different dimensions of existence. Humor is also a big part of his oeuvre, adding a playful yet thought-provoking layer to his art. Each painting seems imbued with an underlying energy that is both powerful and fragile, while the textures and colors are layered in a subtle interplay of light and shadow. The stillness in his compositions creates space for reflection, inviting the viewer not only to observe but also to contribute to the narrative unfolding before them.

At Art Antwerp 2024, Viane encourages us to contemplate transitions—between past and future, between inner and outer—and to pause time within the layers of his paintings.

Dittmar Viane was born in 1998 in Izegem, Belgium. He received both his BA and MA in Illustration from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK) in Ghent. Viane has exhibited across Belgium, including at Everyday Gallery (2022), Museum Hof van Busleyden (2023), Pizza Gallery (2023) and most recently, as part of the 9th Biennial of Painting, at mudel (Museum of Deinze and the Leie region) (2024). His work has also been exhibited in international fairs, such as Art Brussels, Untitled Art (Miami), Future Fair (New York) and Art Rotterdam. Viane lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium.