PIETER JENNES: BIRD TALES

Nino Mier Gallery is pleased to present Bird Tales, the gallery’s second solo exhibition with Belgian artist Pieter Jennes.

September 7 – October 12, 2024

Jennes' new works delve into autumn as a season of opulent abundance and its immanent decline. Trees burst with color, animals frolic and hunt, and fruits ripen before winter’s stillness and chill sets in. Jennes translates the decline to autumn, emphasizing nature’s final burst of energy before dormancy.

Throughout the works, overripe fruit, energetic insects, and lively animals prepare for the coming cold. The leaves, in various stages of color and decay, symbolize the transient beauty of autumn, with Jennes utilizing vivid reds, greens, and yellows to capture the intense light and color before they fall and die.

Numerous figures are obscured within Jennes’ landscapes, as though they were being swallowed up by the natural world or roguishly hiding within it. These figures, often doll-like and sometimes surrealistically floating at the edges of the canvas, add an element of mischief and play that infuses all his work. The playful nature of these hidden figures enhances the whimsical and chaotic atmosphere of the exhibition.

To enhance this immersive experience, Jennes created a series of sculptures that function as stools and tables and resemble tree trunks. These sculptures invite viewers to step into his richly layered, immersive worlds, breaking open the traditional boundaries of painting and creating a diorama-like setup.

The relationship between actor and observer plays out not just between figures within the paintings but also in the form and address of the exhibition as a whole. While the flattened space of each canvas might seem to push back on us, their installation reaches outward, inviting us into its sphere, like the dioramas of natural history museums.