Artists: Ria Bosman & Fabiola Burgos Labra
Exhibition title: In Between Points, Things Happen
Venue: Tatjana Pieters, Ghent, Belgium
Date: September 1 – October 25, 2024
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Tatjana Pieters
Weaving is as ancient as huts, as the early days of gathering and hunting. It is connected to nature yet more recently also to industry, and in this process, technological acceleration turned into computer coding. This might have been an unexpected but natural consequence of pattern programming that was developed during the industrialization of weaving in the early 1800s. Weaving then, and its consequences, are ancient and futuristic, strongly embedded in Indigenous traditions from the Global South as holders of cultural identity, as well as in the post-industrial and consumer societies of the “Global West”, where digital surveillance serves marketing, policing, and military purposes.
‘In Between Points, Things Happen’ is an exhibition of different directions and intensities of weaving. From elegantly simple deconstructed and woven canvases that point simultaneously to the traditions of weaving and hard-edge painting, to fruits and vegetables covered with kitted covers that contain and protect multiple and kaleidoscopic narratives of growth and decay. Colour is vital to both artists and it is everywhere in the exhibition, functioning as a catalyst of playfulness and an indicator of different moods, sometimes festive sometimes melancholic.
The futuristic and almost sci-fi scenarios also make an appearance in the shiny and fierce sculptures and flat weaves made with material as precarious and probably outdated in Europe such as gift ribbon tape. Local history is also present as Ghent is the city of birth of the Belgium Industrial Revolution thanks to the role of the cotton industry.
‘In Between Points, Things Happen’ unites and proposes a new reading of two artists from different generations, geographies, and life experiences. It is an invitation for them to enjoy the process and for the public to enjoy the outcome of this (hopefully first) dialogue.
-Felipe Mujica
Ria Bosman (BE, 1956) is fascinated by colour and matter. Her colourful, abstract artworks include dozens of sketch and workbooks, works on paper, textile paintings, tile and object paintings, and monumental leather and textile structures. Characteristic are the intense colours and minimal, geometric design, rooted in a sophisticated use of colour, a great sensitivity to materials and a strong technical intuition. The pure, colourful imagery of Ria Bosman stem from the inner (experiential) world of the artist, which she expresses with terms such as peace, silence, harmony, balance, connection and intense experience. Therefore, what drives her research are not purely formal-analytical thought processes, but rather a thoroughgoing aesthetic and a consistent attitude to life – a so -called state of mind. Her work aims to evoke a spiritual experience and emotions. She often chooses intuitively – her selection is related to what engages her, and to the subjects that need further rearrangement and attention.
Ria Bosman lives and works in Ghent (BE) . Selected solo exhibitions include ‘GANDA’, EbbenGoud, Ghent (BE), Copyright, Ghent (BE), ‘ODE’, Tatjana Pieters, Ghent (BE), ‘VISCERAL COLOUR FIELDS’, Tatjana Pieters, Ghent (BE), Galerie C. De Vos, Aalst (BE), Huize Bonaventura, Ghent (BE), Villa des Roses, Ghent (BE), Galerie Avantgarde, Antwerp (BE) and ‘Linea ‘81’, Floraliapaleis, Ghent (BE). In 2022, Borgerhoff & Lamberigts published the first comprehensive catalog on Bosman’s oeuvre «Selected Works 1978 -2021,» with contributions by Isabelle De Baets, Wim Lambrecht & Paul De Moor, designed by Luc De Rycke. Her oeuvre is represented in private & public collections worldwide, including the S.M.A.K. Museum of Contemporary Art Ghent & the Juan Carlos Maldonado Collection, Miami (US).
The work of Fabiola Burgos Labra (Osorno, 1984) is characterized by being intuitive while strongly connected with its context, rescueing expressions of the popular and interlacing her personal history. She focuses on materialities and what she can tell through them. The work arises from experimentation through sculpture, weaving, and installation. She is currently working on projects where the process plays a more active role, such as a series of textiles that I combine with organic materials, such as fruits and vegetables, reflecting on preservation, conservation, and the loss of the original. The artist interested in creating systems of relationships between human beings and our environment, where we recognize our dependence on nature.
Fabiola Burgos Labra is a Chilean visual artist living and working in Brussels, Belgium. She studied art at Universidad Católica de Valparaíso between 2003- 2008 and completed an MFA degree at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago in 2011. She is a Laureate at HISK (Higher Institute for Fine Arts) 2022-2023, Belgium. She has organized and produced several exhibitions and interventions in the public space.
Her work has been exhibited in Belgium at Galeria Jaqueline Martins, Brussels; Sorry not Sorry Festival, Ghent; Sint-Denijs-City Biennial; Give Me an Answer, Studio Marie Cloquet et Matthys-Colle Collection, Ghent; Wordlines #1, HISK (Higher Institute for Fine Arts), Brussels; Staying in The Gap, Societé d Electricité, Brussels, in Santiago de Chile at Galería Gabriela Mistral; Matucana 100; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Universidad de Chile; Centro Nacional de Arte Contemporáneo de Cerrillos; and Local Arte Contemporáneo, among others. Internationally she has exhibited at Open-Source Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, (US); Alianza Francesa, Managua (NI); Diablo Rosso, Ciudad de Panamá (PA); Bikini Wax, Mexico City (MX).
Currently, Burgos-Labra is preparing work for group exhibitions at Switch Lab, Bucharest (RO), and Kyoto Art Center (JP).
