

ABOUT
Elke Gijsemans is a Belgian performative painter whose work unfolds at the intersection of live performance, layered visual expression, and the raw vulnerability of the human condition. With an extraordinary eye for detail and a fearless embrace of emotion, she constructs inner landscapes that reflect the turbulence and fragility of contemporary life.
Rooted in live performance, her paintings emerge instinctively in response to the movements of dancers, actors, and musicians. In works like Hannibal and Burning City, her brushstrokes echo the pulse of the moment while carrying striking emotional depth.
After the performance, she often fragments her paintings—physically cutting them apart—and rebuilds them digitally, treating technology as a collaborator. These reimagined works are sometimes printed on metal or plexiglass, giving form to emotional resilience through bold, sculptural surfaces.
Gijsemans' work does not seek perfection but truth. It confronts the viewer with raw, unresolved emotion: grief, desire, rage, tenderness. Her paintings are not passive images; they are lived experiences—spaces of rupture, repair, and human connection.