Pieter Jennes’s work navigates the intersection of narrative, texture, and art-historical dialogue. His compositions are inhabited by human and animal figures caught in moments of tension, intimacy, and theatrical absurdity. His practice draws upon a rich tapestry of historical references, ranging from the flattened perspectives of Islamic miniature painting to the sardonic social critiques of Weimar-era artists such as Georg Grosz and Otto Dix, and the graphic intensity of Jean Brusselmans and James Ensor. These influences coalesce into a visual language that is both familiar and estranged, creating pictorial spaces where representation is at once sincere and irreverent.
Central to Jennes's oeuvre is an acute sensitivity to the tactile qualities of painting. His surfaces are densely layered with bold patterns, richly saturated colors, and an almost textile-like quality that foregrounds the physicality of paint. This somatic engagement extends beyond the surface into the narrative spaces of his works, where moments of connection—both tender and violent—play out with theatrical immediacy. Scenes of mundane intimacy, such as a hand touching a pregnant belly, coexist alongside more mythic and symbolic imagery, like a human grappling with a lion’s jaws or snails laboriously ascending a flower stalk.
Jennes situates his work within the lineage of Belgian genre painting while simultaneously transcending its boundaries through a contemporary lens. His canvases operate as both narrative vignettes and abstract explorations of materiality, inviting viewers to oscillate between immersion in story and appreciation of formal structure. The deliberate theatricality of his imagery—its frontal staging, its compressed spaces, and its satirical undertones—positions Jennes’s paintings as performative arenas where human and non-human subjects enact existential dramas with both levity and gravity.
Pieter Jennes (b. 1990 in Mortsel, Belgium). Recent solo exhibitions include An apple can’t be tired, Be-Part, Kortrijk (2023); When weeds bloom, Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles (2022); I can tell you stories, Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerp (2021); and Everybody’s heard about the bird, PUBLIC Gallery, London (2021). Selected group exhibitions include Vacation II, Gallery Vacancy, Shanghai (2022); Rewilding, Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles (2021); Danser Brut, Bozar, Brussels (2020); De Nacht, De Warande, Turnhout (2020); L'Heure Bleue, Gallery Sofie Van de Velde and PLUS-ONE Gallery, Antwerp (2020); and NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT, PUBLIC Gallery, London (2020). In 2023, Jennes presented a solo project with Gallery Vacancy at Frieze Seoul. He lives and works in Antwerp.