During the holiday season the gallery is open by appointment until the 7th of January: please contact the artist for a special tour. E: mariloiuvanlierop@hotmail.com M: +32 488 56 00 80

Marilou van Lierop calls on our persistent tendency to generate coherent stories with independent bits amid the inescapable chaos, an uncomfortable situation we find ourselves in and try to escape.

Models of opposing worlds intrude and give a sense of order, from "heavy," ever-recurring worlds to personal, "light" worlds where our individual lives would take place.

The paintings, drawings, and videos start from these parallel, artificial and conflicting worlds. They are brought together into one. We often see almost fictional landscapes, painterly representations, in which the laws of nature are explored. And how these can interact with other natural, social, and existential phenomena. Apparent realities, rituals, and symbols appropriating the surrounding chaos. Marilou van Lierop paints secret landscapes, insights that depict the complex (in)organic structures and hidden patterns in 'nature.' Her paintings suggestively portray humanity's wild nature, her way of being, and survival. People do not start spontaneously creating an orderly or ethically responsible society but live in a dangerous and chaotically organized environment that sometimes even destroys them.

Often the carrier is not neutral. For example, the title work of Marilou van Lierop's solo exhibition is a painted "water walking ball." On top of the image of the Disney toy "Frozen" we see representations of, among other things, a large group of inflatable sex dolls. In a scene referring to medieval depictions of hell. And this is in contrast to the light, transparent "inflatables" that fill the sequences of landscapes.

This work “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” portrays the ingenious creative power of chaos as a partly uncontrollable affair, an oppressive yet oxygenating event. Disorder in this work is not understood as the beginning or the first day of order-inducing creation but remains a dynamic and sometimes destructive force that clings to every creative act.

This central work is the continuation of a series of works based on the elements from climbing walls. They refer to the indoor climbing walls as an artificial reconstruction of mountain walls. Van Lierop Paints these fictional panoramas with a range of diffuse images: with fleeting topographies that, without characters, become their protagonists. Time and again, deserted places are reminiscent of the possible ranges of human activities that could or have taken place there.

Marilou van Lierop paints an elusive, alienating, slightly surreal world. Recognizable and, at the same time, unfathomable. While painting, she explores social and existential phenomena. She paints the chaos and man's helpless ways of getting to grips with it. Our eye moves back and forth and finds no rest anywhere. Van Lierop does not lead our eyes. She doesn't force. There is no center, no focus, only quiet chaos.