100 x 150 cm, oil on canvas, 2025
100 x 70 cm, oil on canvas, 2025
150 x 100 cm, oil on linnen, 2018
100 x 150 cm, oil on canvas, 2025
Reality as it reveals itself to us is flexible and through her sharp observation Berkvens folds different realities and points of view into a new reality, which often results in abstract landscapes.
WELCOME
Elise Berkvens – Foldable Realities
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What if reality isn’t fixed, but can be folded?
What if the familiar is merely a starting point—an invitation to look again?
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That curiosity is what drives me to paint. My work stems from a hunger for image and a deep fascination with what lies beneath the surface. By unfolding dimensions, shifting viewpoints, and lifting forms from their context, space emerges. Space for ambiguity, wonder—and sometimes, a quiet sense of disorientation that clears the way for new clarity.
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My paintings balance between abstract landscapes, architectural elements, and organic shapes. They often start from observation, but quickly let go of recognizability. In doing so, I invite you on an inner journey—through layers of colour, form, and feeling.
To me, reality is not a fixed stage but a field of possibilities. What we perceive can be reinterpreted again and again. With each brushstroke, I explore how shape, light, and space guide our gaze—and what happens when you stretch that logic just a bit further.
About Elise
I’m a visual artist (b. 1982, NL) working from Zonhoven (BE). After completing my Master’s in Painting at PXL (Hasselt), I was selected for the post-graduate program at HISK in Ghent. My work has been shown in galleries such as Zwart Huis, Whitehouse Gallery and William Wauters, and is part of public and private collections including Mu.ZEE and the DELA art collection.
Influenced by painters like Neo Rauch, Matthias Weischer and the Belgian tradition of painting (Koen van den Broek), I explore the tension between knowing and not-knowing, between gaining control and letting go. My work echoes elements of metaphysics and surrealism—but most of all, it seeks space, clarity, and inner stillness.
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