Independent Collectors

Transylvanian Visions

A fervent promoter and collector of Contemporary Romanian Art, with a special focus on the artistic phenomenon of the Cluj School.

Installation view Art Center Hugo Voeten, Geel
Installation view Art Center Hugo Voeten, Geel

The collection offers a broad and encompassing panorama of the artistic development that swept over the Transylvanian capital in the last four decades, with prized works by masters such Corneliu Brudascu and Ioan Sbârciu, and several representatives from the younger generations, including Mircea Suciu, Cătălin Petrișor, Oana Farcas, Robert Fekete, Sergiu Toma, Teodora Axente and many others.

The art historical genealogy of Romanian painting is well represented in the collection, since it contains three works by Corneliu Baba (1906-1997) – the most influential Romanian painter of the second-half of the twentieth century. Baba worked in the tradition of the Old Masters, although his art betrays influenced from expressionism, art nouveau, academicism and traces of impressionism. His influence can easily be observed in the work of Corneliu Brudascu in terms of technique and subject matter. After being largely ignored in the past few decades, Brudascu’s key role in the development of Romanian contemporary painting has been finally recognized through the landmark exhibition at Tate Modern London, “The World Goes Pop”, 2015.

Hugo Voeten collected Brudascu’s work long before he gained international recognition. Brudascu’s paintings “Composition II (Ritual)” and “Composition (Angel’s Touch)” – two highlights of the collection – reveal the high level of mastery achieved by the artist in relating the loose application of paint with the visceral evocation of the figure’s corporeal presence. The male bodies that fill Brudascu’s artistic universe are ravaged by guilt and an impending sense of paradise lost, all translated in an un-rival handling of the pictoriality of strong feelings and emotions.

The collection also includes a major work of Ioan Sbârciu – a leading artist from Cluj and the one who created the context of the Cluj School phenomenon. Sbârciu played an essential role as professor at the Art University, being the person who coached and mentored the whole generation of artists associated with the Cluj School. Besides his important pedagogical contribution, Sbârciu is also one of the most outstanding artists of his generation. His series generically entitled Cinder Forest shows not only the trauma of deforestation that affected Transylvania – the region with the highest density of forests in Romania – but also express a radical way of depicting landscape. The large sizes of Sbârciu’s canvases embody a distinct reality that resembles the topography of the region. These paintings are surfaces of materiality that evoke the dynamic between creation and destruction, pain and mystery.

The new generation of artists continued in many ways the local tradition of figurative painting, by infusing it with a critical dose of western conceptualism. Their artistic efforts gained recognition due to program of activities from the Fabrica de Pensule – a former communist paintbrush factory that was transformed into a interdisciplinary cultural space. Fabrica de Pensule is the first collective initiative of this scale in Romania, that includes artists run spaces and studios, galleries, and other organizations active in the fields of theatre, contemporary dance, visual arts, arts in public space, music. This experiment showed that through a close collaboration between artists and organizations, the culture of an entire city and the future of several generations of artists can gain worldwide recognition – to the point where Cluj was nominated as one of the twelve “Art Cities of the Future”.

Elena and Hugo Voeten’s Geel-based collection reveals an insightful understanding of the complex dynamic that characterizes the Cluj School. Both collectors travelled to Cluj, visited the Fabrica de Pensule, and met the artists associated with the movement way before the phenomenon received international media attention. As such, their collection captures the essential characteristic of the Cluj School in terms of conceptual and creative diversity as well as its vibrant intergenerational dialogue.

TEXT BY MARIA RUS BOJAN. CRITIC AND CURATOR, AMSTERDAM

MIRCEA SUCIU, Burden of a Beautiful Soul, 2014
MIRCEA SUCIU, Burden of a Beautiful Soul, 2014
TEODORA AXENTE, Vanity Game, 2013
TEODORA AXENTE, Vanity Game, 2013
TEODORA AXENTE, The Blinding Salvation, 2012
TEODORA AXENTE, The Blinding Salvation, 2012
CORNELIU BRUDASCU, Composition II (Ritual), 2013
CORNELIU BRUDASCU, Composition II (Ritual), 2013
CORNELIU BRUDASCU, Composition (Angel's Touch), 1990
CORNELIU BRUDASCU, Composition (Angel's Touch), 1990
CORNELIU BABA, Figure, 1981
CORNELIU BABA, Figure, 1981
CORNELIU BABA, Composition
CORNELIU BABA, Composition
BOGDAN SZÉKELY, Portrait of Maria Grigorità, 2013
BOGDAN SZÉKELY, Portrait of Maria Grigorità, 2013
MIRCEA SUCIU, The Fallen, 2012
MIRCEA SUCIU, The Fallen, 2012
OANA FARCAS, Path Finders (In the Light of the Sight), 2013
OANA FARCAS, Path Finders (In the Light of the Sight), 2013
OANA FARCAS, Oblivion, 2013
OANA FARCAS, Oblivion, 2013
IOAN SBÂRCIU, Padurea de Cenusa, 2014
IOAN SBÂRCIU, Padurea de Cenusa, 2014
SERGIU TOMA, Interior, 2013
SERGIU TOMA, Interior, 2013
MARIUS BODEA, Untitled, 2012
MARIUS BODEA, Untitled, 2012
MARILENA PREDA SÂNC, Lake of Light, 2001
MARILENA PREDA SÂNC, Lake of Light, 2001
ANCA MURESAN, Untitled, 2000/2012
ANCA MURESAN, Untitled, 2000/2012
RADU BĂIEȘ, Untitled
RADU BĂIEȘ, Untitled
STEFAN UNGUREANU, Explosion 9, 2013
STEFAN UNGUREANU, Explosion 9, 2013
STEFAN TRIFFA, Metropolis 1, 2013
STEFAN TRIFFA, Metropolis 1, 2013
Installation view Art Center Hugo Voeten, Geel
Installation view Art Center Hugo Voeten, Geel
Installation view Art Center Hugo Voeten, Geel
Installation view Art Center Hugo Voeten, Geel
Installation view Art Center Hugo Voeten, Geel
Installation view Art Center Hugo Voeten, Geel

Belgium (27)

Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens

The industrialist couple Jules and Irma Dhondt-Dhaenens began collecting art in the 1920s

Vanhaerents Art Collection

Where the connection between building and collecting is more than metaphorical

Galila Barzilaï

Galila’s P.O.C presents itself as a contemporary curiosity cabinet.

AMEXICA @The Loft

The Family Servais Collection and The Loft present AMEXICA, an exhibition curated by Marisol Rodríguez

Schöne Sentimenten at the MDD

The Belgian Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, situated in the countryside at Deurle, presents an exhibition combining real artworks together with 'absent' ones.

Sun Women

"Sun Women" presents seven artists brought together from external private collections in Riva's exhibition space.

Servais Family Collection – Dérapages & Post-Bruises Imaginaries

The current hang of works from the Servais Family Collection, curated by Dragos Olea, offers a juxtaposition of concern versus hope

The Apartment

Charming presentation of contemporary art in the heart of Brussels.

Christophe Veys

An interview with the collector who owns the “invisible collection”.

Animals

An exhibition detailing the representation of the animal in contemporary art.

Remembering Mwene Mutapa – Exotic Mapping of a Collection

The Brussels-based contemporary art collection marked by a non-Western focus.

Polish Village

For the first time, the collection presents an exhibition entirely dedicated to the American artist Frank Stella.

Collection in Motion

“Our exhibition space does not aim to be an oasis."

Forever Young

The 2016 annual presentation organized by collector Alain Servais in his 900-square-meter loft in Brussels.

A from Animism, Atlas, Adrift[1]

A from Animism, Atlas, Adrift, Algorithmic, Apocryphal, Automatic, Ambiguous, Amnesia, Allegory, Above, Archive, Alien…

Human Figure

Creating a dialogue between contemporary sculptures and works from Oceanic Art

The Power and The Glory

Opening on the eve of the now infamous 2016 US elections, “The Power and The Glory” set out to examine the tension between an artist’s desire to shine and their desire to exist.

Not Really Really

Removed from the material world and undergoing various transformations.

Walter Vanhaerents

A Story About An Island

Machinations at Verbeke

The Verbeke concept presents a private collection and lively program with an experimental spirit and devotion to nature.

Bewogen Beweging

Exhibition at the Verbeke Foundation.

Many Suns & Worlds

The Brussels based Vanhaerents Art Collection is hosting the first solo exhibition of Argentinian artist Tomás Saraceno.

From East to West

Located in an old grain factory on the banks of the Campine Canal in Herentals, the Art Center Hugo Voeten represents over 1 700 works that have been collected over a thirty year period.

Break Out!

In 1966, Alighiero Boetti created a trio of sculptures titled “Zig Zag”, consisting of the fabric of a beach chair woven in inside an aluminium cube.

Warhol & Subsequent Effects

Located in a charmingly remodelled former industrial building in the Dansaert district in the heart of Brussels, the Walter Vanhaerents contemporary art collection is presented in biannual exhibitions on three floors.

Charles Riva

The Charles Riva Collection is a carefully curated gathering of contemporary art, mostly by American artists, located in Brussels, Belgium.