“The objects can adapt to the circumstances that develop around them. I believe beauty allows me to refer to content rather than explain it. It might last longer that way.” — Kasper Bosmans

Gladstone Gallery is pleased to present Model Garden, the gallery’s first exhibition of works by Kasper Bosmans. In a suite of new paintings and objects, the artist presents a distinct visual language through graphic appropriation and the deployment of historical, political, and artistic signs. Bosmans works as a careful gatherer of material culled from cultural memories (folk art, heraldry, maps, legends, alphabets and symbols) that were once common and close to home in his native Belgium.

Research into pictorial codes acts as a point of departure as Bosmans systematically transposes acquired knowledge into Legends, small-scale paintings in which encyclopedic and mythological anecdotes coexist in stylized forms. Through these recognizable symbols painted in bold forms and with stark lines, the viewer is invited to “read” the paintings–as opposed to “view”– as one would a map.

Formal elements and ideologies intrinsic to the studied phenomena open up a realm of meaning that both surpasses and celebrates their original functions. Every thread of investigation is incorporated into Bosman’s unique visual language and further translated into paintings and sculptural ensembles.

Kasper Bosmans (b. 1990) lives and works in Brussels and Amsterdam. Recent exhibitions include: Decorations at Witte de With Centre for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam; Specimen Days, S.M.A.K., Ghent (2016); Loot, Soil, and Cleanliness, CIAP, Hasselt (2016); Motif (Oil and Silver), Marc Foxx Gallery, Los Angeles (2016); Yesterday was different with Marthe Ramm Fortun, KOMPLOT, Brussels (2015); Des hôtes: a foreigner, a human, an unexpected visitor, Spring Workshop, Hong Kong (2015); Little Cherry Virus, P/////akt, Amsterdam (2015); Un-Scene III, Wiels, Brussels (2015); Het kanaal - le canal, Extra City Kunsthal, Antwerp & Espace 251 Nord, Liège (2014); Coming People, S.M.A.K., Ghent (2014).