Dreams of the Seen and Unseen

Inspired by 19th-century daguerreotypes, she places her figures in historical settings where tradition, fairy tales, and superstition continue to thrive. Landscape and nature appear not as backdrops, but as protagonists and mirrors of the fragility of human existence.
Elshout's works combine beauty and ambivalence, seducing with vibrant colors while simultaneously confronting questions of power, rituals, and our relationship with nature.



James Johnston (born 1966) is also known as a musician with Gallon Drunk, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds as well as PJ Harvey, and has established himself as a painter in recent years. His first paintings were created on tour in hotel rooms; today, he works daily in his studio.
His paintings are figurative, raw, and expressive: bold colors, loose structures, and scenes full of mythic intensity characterize his visual language. Animals, nature, and solitary figures appear as mirrors of the human condition.
Nick Cave describes his works as „paintings full of mythic power.“ Johnston's paintings are not a counterpoint to music, but rather an expression of the same immediate energy and archaic power.

In conjunction with the works of Marie Louise Elshout, an intense dialogue emerges: While Elshout reflects on collective rituals and the fragile relationship with nature with precise drawings, historical allusions, and mythically charged hybrid creatures, Johnston condenses existential moods into expressive figurative scenes in which the mythical meets the present.

• Exhibition opening: November 7, 2025, 6–9 p.m.
  
• Duration: November 7, 2025 – January 3, 2026