Edith Ronse shows us sculptures in which she has isolated parts of the human body. In her work, the skin is undeniably a kind of catalyst. The skin that stretches and descends, like ebb and flow, through our breath. Like a sunken landscape that has come to rest. It pearls, breathes and evaporates. That skin, in all its aspects, is an important organ in Edith’s work.
Edith Ronse refers to this by speaking of ‘the conductive skin’, that which makes visible what really ‘plays in us’ inside. Or from the Latin ‘intra muros’, literally: ‘within the walls’, which appears from within, manifests itself visibly. The skin has its vocabulary, its own language. It is a sensitive tool, part of our human communication. The skin as a carrier of information in which our entire ‘Being’ is contained.
Edith Ronse shows us sculptures in which she has isolated parts of the human body. In her work, the skin is undeniably a kind of catalyst. The skin that stretches and descends, like ebb and flow, through our breath. Like a sunken landscape that has come to rest. It pearls, breathes and evaporates. That skin, in all its aspects, is an important organ in Edith’s work.
Edith Ronse refers to this by speaking of ‘the conductive skin’, that which makes visible what really ‘plays in us’ inside. Or from the Latin ‘intra muros’, literally: ‘within the walls’, which appears from within, manifests itself visibly. The skin has its vocabulary, its own language. It is a sensitive tool, part of our human communication. The skin as a carrier of information in which our entire ‘Being’ is contained.
The sculptures seem rather archetypes of concentrated (in) tension and driven by a subtle subcutaneous dynamics. The mystery lies precisely in the isolated event. Due to the limitation of what is shown, the act thus becomes almost a ritual happening with a guessable intention. An act with a deeper human meaning that has just escaped us, the silence of a held breath, a held second in an ineffable gesture.
Edith is referring to a memory from her own childhood. It could be a fait diverse for many. Her sister and she, sitting in silence, at the edge of a pool, against each other, touching each other’s skin. That logical, self-evident connection, without any intention and yet permanent. sincere in that touch. And know: no touch is meaningless.
The dialectic of a touch, the meaning of a touch. Melting, stillness, letting go, the shiver, the tangible memory. The imprint on the skin that tells you what that touch meant. Or those other, many other touches, as with lovers, which Edith describes as ‘unctuous’, as true ‘magic’. A touch of a different order, one that overwhelms, propels and discharges you.
And this reminded me of Fernand Khnopff’s famous ‘L’Art Des Caresses’ [1858-1921]. A work like a mysterious manual for the, silently, silent, caressing hand. As a result, it has a lot in common with it in a contemporary way: what one thinks one sees is not what one actually sees. True reality can only be shown fragmentarily in its fullness.
Parts from text by Stefaan Van Biesen
2006-2009: Sculpture-Spatial Art – Sint Lucas Antwerp
2009-2010: Master in Free Arts – Sint Lucas Antwerp
2010-2012: Teacher training – Artesis Hogeschool in Antwerp
2010-2015: Freelance guide – Rasa and workshops for Artforum
From 2015: Teacher of sculpture – SASK (urban academy Sint-Niklaas)
2022
Group exhibition Human >< Nature – Ruimte 4n20, Kortrijk
4×4, art trail on the occasion of the 16th anniversary of art platform Warp – Warp, Sint-Niklaas
2021
Imprint of a memory (work in public space) – Hof ter Welle, Beveren
Group exhibition Passion and Obsession – Stem museum, Sint-Niklaas
Group exhibition Madonna’s web – Warp, Sint-Niklaas
CAS, Zottegem
Group exhibition Hoverflight (curator Edith Ronse) – Hof ter Saksen, Beveren
2020
Group exhibition HONGER – Stem museum, Sint-Niklaas
2019
Solo exhibition Conductive skin – Anouk Vilain Artgallery, Diepenbeek
Group exhibition Night of museums and galleries – CAS, Oostende
2018
Group exhibition Cross over sense – Ter Dilft, Bornem
Omtrent Brel – Zandvoorde
CAPS, Antwerpen
Gallery Gevaert, Wingene
Solo exhibition – Het Atelier, Aarschot
2017
Art The Hague – Den Haag (NL)
Elles ont des ailes – La Romieu (FR)
All at Sea – CAPS, Oostende
Arts festival Watou – Watou
No Modulor No More – Sint Niklaas
2016
IKO-expo showcase – BuitenBoord, Gent
2015
AAF, Brussel
2014
Ik-Jij-Wij – Rasa, Oostende
Gallery ‘Musée Kums’, Antwerpen
Magmacrowded, Antwerpen
Workplace, Antwerpen
2013
D.ART arts festival – Mechelen
Secondroom – Antwerpen
‘Ab homine creatum’ – Sculpture park, Hof Ter Saksen, Beveren
Factorettes, gallery weekend – Berlin (DE)
The Halle, Geel
Free entrance – Sint Martinuspastorij, Malle
2012
Fabrication, Antwerpen
Labdo, Antwerpen
Untitled Gallery, Antwerpen
The Guesthouse, Aarschot
Kievitsnest, Antwerpen
Boathouse Brauhaus, Ham
2010
The border – Flanders expo, Gent
Maagdenhuis, Antwerpen
Cypress gallery, Leuven
Final 10, Antwerpen
l’Abondance, Antwerpen
Cypress gallery, Leuven
Mark Macken, Leuven
2009
Lokaal 01, Breda
Gallery Insularte, Antwerpen
Flagey, Brussel
