From March 8 to May 12, Art Sonje Center and Space ISU will present “Rinus Van de Velde: I Want to Eat Mangos in the Bathtub”, an exhibition that examines a wide range of works by artist Rinus Van de Velde.

Rinus Van de Velde explores circular narratives encompassing reality and fiction, working across different fields of art that include drawings, installations, sculptures, and videos. With a keen interest in the theory of parallel universes, Van de Velde’s solo exhibition presents his own imaginative journey to find himself through all of these art forms. At the exhibition, the artist takes on an artistic adventure across art history, meeting Henri Matisse (1869-1954), Emil Nolde (1867-1956), Piet Mondrian (1872-1944), and others. In particular, the exhibition is organized mainly around works based on a “fictional autobiography” of the artist’s life, as if he were an early 20th-century pleinairist painting nature in the sunlight a century ago, enabling viewers to focus on the artist’s latest works.

The exhibition title is taken from Van de Velde’s work I want to eat mangos in the bathtub while watching the sun, moon and clouds go by (2023), a quote attributed to Henri Matisse when he traveled to the south of France to find the best light for painting. Van de Velde handwrote the quote at the bottom of a multicolored, light-filled abstract painting, identifying himself with other 20th-century pleinairists who traveled in search of light, while paradoxically revealing his view of working on art: that he can take an imaginary journey to exotic worlds while soaking in the warmth of his own bathtub without actually leaving it.

Featuring large-scale charcoal drawings, which many see as Van de Velde’s most emblematic works, as well as oil pastels, colored pencil drawings, videos, sculptures, and installations, the exhibition will be presented simultaneously at Art Sonje Center and Space ISU during the same period. The exhibition, which is being jointly hosted by Art Sonje Center, Space ISU, and the Jeonnam Museum of Art, will move on to the Jeonnam Museum of Art in late May.