Tinimini Room is pleased to present De Queeste, a solo exhibition by Thé Van Bergen, opening on Saturday 22 March 2025. The title, meaning The Quest, encapsulates a journey without a fixed destination and a continuous search rather than a conclusion. In Van Bergen’s work, the unknown is not something to resolve but something to embrace. His paintings and drawings reflect this ongoing challenge: to explore rather than to define.
This sense of uncertainty is echoed in the way Van Bergen constructs his images. His works resist closure, remaining fragmented, detached, and open-ended. Vivid yet elusive, they suggest places that seem familiar but remain just out of reach. One of the key works in the exhibition, Het Bos (The Forest), embodies this sense of disorientation and exploration. The dense, layered composition suggests both shelter and uncertainty, drawing the viewer into a space where clarity is always just out of reach. Like much of Van Bergen’s work, it operates in the space between minimalism and archetypal figuration, where forms emerge and dissolve within the canvas.
Van Bergen’s influences range from Gerhard Richter and Philip Guston to Jean Brusselmans and Raoul De Keyser. His choice to work between Antwerp and Wittimont has also left a mark on his practice, shaping the way he navigates between abstraction and figuration, between structure and chance. Dreams and waking thoughts blend seamlessly in his paintings, where the subconscious and the conscious meet in a quiet, unresolved dialogue.
His approach has evolved over time: after a period of working with acrylic, he now predominantly uses oil on canvas. He embraces chance and association without censorship, allowing images to emerge rather than forcing them into being. Minimalism and archetypal figuration coexist in his work. Nothing is excluded. Color, too, is fluid in its role; it has no predetermined meaning but asserts itself in the process, shaping the final composition as it unfolds.
In De Queeste, Van Bergen invites viewers into this ongoing search. His works do not offer clear narratives or fixed interpretations but instead reflect the ever-changing nature of perception and experience. As Heraclitus wrote, Panta Rhei: everything flows, nothing remains the same. Art, in this sense, becomes a mirror of that endless transformation.
Van Bergen hopes that, in encountering his paintings and drawings, viewers will be encouraged to engage in their own search and to embrace uncertainty, to keep moving forward.
Thé Van Bergen (b. 1946, Achterveld, Netherlands; lives and works in Antwerp and Wittimont) has had solo exhibitions at Fred & Ferry Gallery in Antwerp, including Toujours en Route (2022-2023) and Wandelgangen (2024). His work is included in various prestigious collections like the Baloise Art Collection and many more. He is represented by Fred & Ferry Gallery in Antwerp.
The exhibition is on view until 17 May 2025 and remains open for appointments.
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