12 – 15 December 2024 | 

Antwerp Expo

Richard Saltoun Gallery

41 Dover Street
London W1S 4NS 
United Kingdom 

Richard Saltoun Gallery will present a solo exhibition of Ria Verhaeghe (b. 1950, BE). Her oeuvre spans across painting, sculpture, drawing, collage and video. Verhaeghe aspires to give new value to images and photographs of death and tragedy found in newspapers, that are usually quickly discarded and forgotten. For the last thirty years, the artist has been assembling an image database called ‘Provisoria’, in which approximately 60.000 images are ordered according to a personal bookkeeping system of keywords, colours, dates and groups. At Art Antwerp, the gallery will exhibit a selection of works from key series of the artist. ‘Verticals’ are small oil paintings on wood, layered with gold leaf, with dancing and falling bodies in bright colours. The ‘Pantarhei-Spiegelrei’ series, inspired by Heraclitus’ quote, captures the ever-changing flow of water and the reflection of light. ‘40.000’ is an ongoing series which commemorates the 40,000 children who die every day due to insufficient food, medical care, war, etc.

Ria Verhaeghe, 40.000, 1993, Red ink and golden varnish on newspaper applied on wooden board, 12,4 x 9,4 x 1,8 cm