Mieke Teirlinck: Humanity Paintings

Mieke Teirlinck (Bruges, b.1959) is a highly motivated and skilled painter. Over fifteen years she has created an equally impressive and captivating body of work in oil paint. Her paintings often depict fragility and helplessness. She touches subjects that are kept hidden from the eye, for which society has developed a blind spot. Her subjects appear completely isolated and are presented without frills or decorum. And yet in this bizarre beauty, there's a sense of humour and self-mockery. Very gracefully Mieke Teirlinck forges extremes into a symbiosis. And even though she strips her subjects back to their bare bones (often literally), you always look at ostensibly idyllic and eye-catching scenes. You experience 'beauty'. At second glance, however, when the shiny veneer is peeled away, a second darker layer of threat, angst or pain can be experienced. It is this subtle and seemingly effortless marriage of opposites that makes her work so unique and alluring.