Huidhonger-Serie

The title Skin Hunger refers to the lack of loving touch and the longing for skin-to-skin contact.
This series marks the beginning of my exploration of the naked body. In order to better understand the skin, I began studying the human body through abstract drawings focused on volumes and folds. My aim was not only to capture the skin in its form, but also to convey its texture and to discover how I could translate that physicality into a two-dimensional space.

As the research progressed, my focus shifted to the ways in which bodies merge during intimate moments. I became fascinated by the point where two bodies, in physical entanglement, seem to become a single, solid form.

My investigation started with photographic imagery, depicting my own body and that of my partner. This personal starting point gave the work an intimate quality. These images served as the foundation for my drawings and later also for my paintings, in which I experimented with scale, detail, and figurative elements.

The Scaffolding Project is an initiative by a group of PXL-MAD students in which scaffolding structures were used to shape an exhibition space.

11/12/‘24 – Gouverneur Verwilghensingel 3, 3500 Hasselt (Building G, PXL-MAD Campus)

This project is connected to the B-Sides and Rarities project.

Tussen Schijn en Zijn

22/02 – 23/03/‘25, Bootstraat 9, Hasselt (De Serre)
Exhibition in collaboration with Wout Bokken and Milayka Leandra.

Tussen Schijn en Zijn

Soms geschilderd in snelle halen, met een te grove kwast, haastig gedoopt in de kleuren die men van je verwacht— een streek hier, een veeg daar, een gezicht dat pas gezicht wordt als iemand kijkt.

We zijn de kunst van schaduwen verplaatsen, van licht laten vallen waar het moet, maar onder de lagen, onder de grondering zit de ruwe schets, de eerste versie, de lijnen die te eerlijk waren om overheen te schilderen zonder spijt.

Soms krabt de dag aan ons vernis, komt het barsten tevoorschijn, de doffe plekken waar we te vaak zijn overgeschilderd met wat men mooier vond dan wij.

En toch—soms, als we alleen zijn, zien we onszelf in een onbewaakt moment, tussen schijn en zijn.

Door Milayka Leandra

Between Seeming and Being

Sometimes painted in hurried strokes,
with a brush too coarse,
dipped in the colors others expect of you—
a swipe here, a blur there,
a face that only becomes a face when someone looks.

We are the art of shifting shadows,
of casting light where it’s needed,
but beneath the layers, beneath the primer,
lies the rough sketch,
the first version,
the lines too honest to paint over without regret.

Sometimes, the day scratches at our varnish,
and cracks appear,
dull spots where we’ve been repainted too often
in shades others found prettier than us.

And yet—
sometimes, when we are alone,
we catch a glimpse of ourselves in an unguarded moment,
between seeming and being.

By Milayka Leandra