Wo man sich trifft
Starting from the conception of a painting as a place to meet, different approaches can be observed in this international group exhibition. The show looks into the various ways that contemporary painters stage encounters, be it…
Why Paintings Work
In his new book ‘Why Paintings Work’, Jurriaan Benschop navigates the diverse landscape of contemporary painting. He introduces the work of dozens of painters and asks: Why do these paintings work? In what ways do they…
What we Learn from Land and Sea
On 5 August, 2023 the exhibition What We Learn from Land and Sea has opened at Cycladic Arts, an artist-run residency and exhibition space on the Greek island of Paros. The question of balancing forces, and…
Book launch & exhibition in Athens
On July 12 the book Why Paintings Work was presented at Kourd Gallery in Athens. The gallery shows currently work of 8 artists who are featured in the book. There are different threads running through the…
Marc Trujillo at West (+video)
Los Angeles based painter Marc Trujillo shows recent works in the exhibition ‘8810 Tampa Avenue’ at West in The Hague (The Netherlands). Curator Jurriaan Benschop spoke with the artist at the opening (on May 7th 2023),…
Spring Tour USA
In Spring 2023 I visit several Midwest universities for a talk about my book Why Paintings Work. The tour starts in Aiken (South Carolina), and then goes to Bloomington (Indiana), Chicago (Illinois), Fayetteville (Arkansas) and Lyon…
Martha Jungwirth in Düsseldorf
Martha Jungwirth lives in Vienna but part of the year she spend on the Cycladic Islands in Greece, such as Paros or Serifos. Impressions of the landscape, the architecture, the vegetation end up in her watercolors,…
Caitlin Lonegan in Vienna
On the occasion of Caitlin Lonegan’s exhibition in Vienna, at Galerie Nächst St Stephan, Rosemarie Schwarzwälder invited me to reflect on the work . In this video you see an introduction to the exhibition, in German…
Kunstenaarsgesprek Lara de Moor
Ze komt uit een familie van kunstenaars en schrijvers, maar ze is maar tot op zekere hoogte fan van het woord, als het om beeldende kunst gaat. Woorden kunnen als loopplank toegang tot een schilderij verschaffen,…
Waarom een schilderij werkt
In Waarom een schilderij werkt onderzoekt Jurriaan Benschop de veelvormige schilderkunst van onze huidige tijd. Hij introduceert het werk van tientallen schilders, bespreekt de thema’s die in het werk te vinden zijn en stelt daarbij steeds…
Talking with/about Bernard Frize
Recently I came to visit Bernard Frize in his studio in Berlin to record with him a conversation. We had a vivid talk about ways to paint, and about the balance between concept, method and the…
Exhibition ‘Three of a Kind’
The exhibition ‘Three of a Kind’ presents the work of three painters who share an interest in ambivalent forms of figuration: Milla Aska, Veronika Hilger, and Paula Zarina-Zemane. Their paintings depict situations or figures that cannot…
Rezi van Lankveld Interview
Elements of landscape, architecture, and the body meld together in the small-scale paintings of Rezi van Lankveld. Forms may look familiar but are reluctant to be identified in a singular sense; the figuration is ambivalent. Movement…
Athens Talks on Painting
A program of talks about painting, the way it is made, the way we look at it, and the way we use language to address it. Curator Jurriaan Benschop speaks with experts from different fields about…
Young Americans in Thessaloniki
This exhibition presents the paintings of three American artists who focus on space in their work, Michelle Jezierski, Joseph Kameen and Adrienne Elyse Meyers. The interiors, landscapes, and other constellations they create are not just physical…
A Grammar of Gestures in Athens
‘A Grammar of Gestures’ is an international painting exhibition. Human figures, animals, or elements of landscape appear in the works on display, but these motifs present themselves neither in a singular, unambiguous way, nor as a…
Caroline Walker in The Hague
The more than twenty paintings in “Windows,” London-based painter Caroline Walker’s first solo show at a museum, depict women engaged in various kinds of work: a maid in a hotel room, a hostess taking reservations in…
Elisabeth Frieberg in Stockholm
During my visit to Sweden, the artist showed me the works of her grandparents, Beth Zeeh and Ryno Frieberg, both painters whose works can be seen in their former house in the countryside. Driving there, a…
Eeva-Leena Eklund
I wonder if Eeva-Leena Eklund orders her pizzas because of the taste, or because of the visual patterns they provide. Throughout the years she has painted quite some different types. In square and circular paintings, salami…
We Need to Talk
In Covid times, some galleries are encouraging their audience to window shop. They put on the lights at night so that you can enjoy the exhibition. Does that work? I tried it one evening in Berlin…