Human Echo: Exhibition at Pop-up Galerie Bart Nijmegen

Human Echo brings together works by Lawrence James Bailey, Britte Koolen and Toni van Tiel, each of whom explores, in their own way, what it means to be human and what traces we leave behind.

In a world dominated by speed, haste, and the constant drive for more, Britte Koolen seeks the opposite: the small and the subtle. In her practice, Britte seeks balance by slowing down her creative process. She continually asks herself questions: When is something in the right place? When should something be added or taken away? When does balance truly emerge? This approach requires focus and care, but also space to notice the small, fragile details that are easily overlooked. She aims to encourage the viewer to look closely and be surprised by these often-overlooked details.

Lawrence James Bailey creates embroidered and appliquéd textile portraits that explore the unstable boundary between the human body and the natural world. He depicts figures in varying states of exposure: some shielded, others partially damaged, overgrown, or dissolving into their surroundings. In certain works, Lawrence makes it difficult to distinguish where the body ends and nature begins. He approaches nature not as a backdrop, but as an active force that acts upon us.

Artist Toni van Tiel is a sculptor on paper. His works are two-dimensional, but he builds his works up as if the whole public space arises from the paper. In his drawings, he creates monuments, fountains, and roundabouts: sculptures in imaginary public spaces. ‘They are reduced sculptures. In drawings, the structure doesn’t have to be correct.’ Toni feels no need to realize these sculptures in three dimensions. They exist on paper, and the viewer’s imagination does the rest.