Painting has always been the starting point of Hilde Overbergh’s artistic practice. Not the kind of painting where the action takes place within the surface of a defined canvas, but a kind of painting that challenges and shifts the rules and notions of genres and media. Her artistic method is not focussed on claiming a certain signature style, it rather zooms in on the exploration of the transformative possibilities of materials, colours, and shapes. Her work comprises aspects of painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, video, assemblage, and installation. And above anything else, the artist focuses on the process. Although Overbergh approaches her work conceptually, what stands out is a great sense of intuition and tactility. Through leaving space for what’s unintentional or unforeseen during the creative process, her art never becomes sterile. The artist uses material to question herself. She reclaims insignificant, everyday objects – materials without obvious art-historical associations, or seemingly futile remnants of the past – and unravels and reshapes them into evocative carriers of meaning. She extracts beauty and poetry from humble materials such as foam, plastic waste, pieces of textile, glass shards … Her diverse oeuvre is also capable of holding on to elements of when and where the work was made. Environment and context often have a tangible influence on her artistic output through her search for a connection with social and urban dynamics. By repeating and reworking fragments and works from previous presentations, the artist allows for not only the shape, but also the meaning of her work to stray and change. The meaning of her works accumulates over time, and changes according to their position in space or relation to context. Hilde Overbergh creates dynamic connections and associations between works of art and different presentations, which makes viewers sensitive to perception and experience. Her work exists fully in the present moment, and reflects the commotion and fragility of the world around us. Koen Leemans
Hilde lives and works in Leuven, Belgium. She holds a Masters in Painting from Otis art Institute Los Angeles, and a Masters in Fine Arts from PXL Hasselt. She teaches painting at the SLAC in Leuven. Together with 3 other artists, she started SECONDroom Leuven in 2018, a platform that organises exhibitions for and by artists.
Matter of Factness 2017
solo exhibitions
2024 blad-steen-schaar, curator - Frank Maes, Emergent Veurne (BE)
2023 Ballroom Blitz - Ballroom Gallery, Brussels (BE)
2022 Navigating Turbulence On a Horse with No Name, curator- Koen
Leemans, De Garage, Mechelen (BE)
2022 Art Brussels, represented by Zwarthuis Gallery (BE)
2021 Spilled Milk, open studio, Kessel-lo (BE)
2020 SOLID THEATRE, curator - Ma Yongfeng, coGalleries, Berlin (D)
2020 We’ll Shine and Rise Again, SECONDroom Antwerp (BE)
2019 Don’t let anyone ever dull your sparkle! Zwarthuis Gallery, Brussels (BE)
2017 Reframed, Whitehouse Gallery, Lovenjoel (BE)
2016 (TUSSEN)plaats, WOOT, Antwerp (BE)
2015 Vorspulen - zwischenspulen - klarspülen, collaboration with Gert Verhoeven, CB1 Gallery, Los Angeles (US)
2014 100% Synthetic, Kusseneers Gallery, Brussels (BE)
2011 Repositioning basics, CB1 Gallery, Los Angeles (US)
2010 cc De Bogaard, Sint-Truiden (BE)
2009 Down the rabbit hole, cc Hasselt (BE)
group exhibitions
2023 cc Zwaneberg, Heist-op-den-berg (BE)
2023 twist.add.stack, Hilde Vandaele Gallery, Poperinge (BE)
2022 Network, meet & greet with curators, gallerists in NY, organised by VONK
2021 Abstracte kunst bestaat niet, curator-Frank Maes, Emergent, Veurne (BE)
2020 KETTE UND SCHUSS, cc Binder, Puurs Sint-Amands (BE)
2020 ZINTUIN, Hilde Overbergh - Alice Vanderschoot, curator - Els Wuyts Salon Blanc, Ostend (BE)
2019 MDD Veiling, Flanders Expo, Ghent (BE)
2019 Abstracte onschatbare geschilderde gedachten, curator - Fred Michiels, Westmalle (BE)
2018 HARRY & FRIENDS, curator - Harlinde De Mol, Stoom, Oudenaarde (BE)
2018 Prize Ernest Albert for painting 2018, cc De Garage, Mechelen (BE)
2018 ARTURE #9, curator - Sven Vanderstichelen, Herzele (BE)
2018 Folding & Folding , collaboration with Saeedeh Mohtadi, curator - Atefeh Khas, Rooberoo Gallery, Tehran (IR)
2017 Where Form Meets Art, curator - Occasionele 0ntmoetingen, Antwerp (BE)
2016 Do Boomerangs Always Come Back? curator - Annemie Van Laethem and Eric Croux, Castle of Oud Rekem, Oud-Rekem (BE)
2016 Frame Invites #1, PXL-MAD en U Hasselt, Neerpelt (BE)
2015 Accommodating The Mess, curator - Susan Cantrick, Espace des arts abstraits, Paris (FR)
2014 Opening, Whitehouse Gallery, Lovenjoel (BE)
2013 IK ZIE, IK ZIE, curator - An Leemans, CIAP, Hasselt (BE)
2013 Crossing The Lines Again, The Workplace, Antwerp (BE)
2012 Inside-Out, Inside-Out, curator - Paul Poelmans, D-art Mechelen (BE)
2012 Manifesta parallel, Mad faculty selection, Genk (BE)
2010 For Your Pleasure, CB1 Gallery, Los Angeles (US)
2010 The Story of O, curator Ben Maltz Gallery, Los Angeles (US)
2009 Rodenbach Awards exhibition, selected by Jan Hoet, De Markten, Brussels (BE)
2008 Glocal Affairs, Maastricht, curator - Ad Himmelreich (NL)
2008 Betrekkelijk Rustig, curator - Annemie Van Laethem and Eric Croux, Castle of Oud-Rekem, Oud-Rekem (BE)
2004 Fine Arts Prize Vlaams-Brabant 2003, Leuven (BE)
2004 Painting and photography through the contemporary eye, Dobiacco (I)
nominations
2022 Selected via an Open Call by Vonk i.s.m. House of Flanders, for
speeddate sessions with curators, gallerists, museum directors in New York.
2018 Prize Ernest Albert, Mechelen (BE)
2009 Laureate Rodenbach Fonds Award, Brussels (BE)
2008 Wanatoe prize, Limburg (BE)
2003 Provincial prize Vlaams-Brabant (BE)
1999 Provincial prize Vlaams-Brabant (BE)
1997 Laureate Dirk Bouts prize, Leuven (BE)
1990 Grand Concours International de Peinture, Luxemburg (LUX)
1989 Laureate Armand Hammer Award, Los Angeles (US)
residencies
2022 Obracadobra, Oaxaca, Mexico
2020 coGalleries Berlin
2018 arteventura Aracena, Spain
2018 Rooberoo Mansion Teheran, Iran
2014 Cas-co Leuven, Belgium
2004 Dobiacco, Italy
collections
Belfius Collection
Purchase of 3 works by the Flemish community for the permanent collection of Museum M Leuven (BE)
-Province Vlaams Brabant
-private collections