A special summer issue of Modern Painters, which will be published in installments on ARTINFO throughout this week, surveys the world’s best galleries, across six continents and 36 countries. Throughout the issue you’ll hear from 50 of the most influential gallery owners and directors, discussing their achievements and envies, the artists they have their eye on, and the regional trends affecting this increasingly international market. Below you’ll find Q&As with two gallerists based in Belgium. To see other installments from the special issue, click here. GALERIE RODOLPHE JANSSEN | BRUSSELS, BELGIUMARTISTS: Davide Balula, Walead Beshty, Sean Landers, Adam McEwen, Sam Moyer
ESTABLISHED: 1991CONTACT: galerierodolphejanssen.com; info@galerierodolphejanssen.com; +32 2 538 08 18RODOLPHE JANSSEN, OWNERHow did you get your start as a
gallerist? I started by representing international contemporary photographers, such as Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Stephen Shore, Sam Samore, and Balthasar Burkhard.Are there any new discoveries for the gallery whom you’re especially excited about? Elaine Cameron-Weir, Aleksander Hardashnakov,
Sascha Braunig, Charles Harlan, and Johannes VanDerBeek.
What was your biggest show of the past year? “‘Give a man a mask and he will tell you the truth’ Oscar Wilde,” which was a group show.What’s one show you loved in the past year at a gallery other than your own?
Sean Landers’s “North American Mammals” at Petzel Gallery, in New York.What trend do you see happening in your region right now?
Galleries opening second spaces in Brussels.
What might you be doing if you weren’t a gallerist? Food critic.Name the last great book you read, art-related or otherwise.
Wagstaff: Before and After Mapplethorpe: A Biography, by Philip Gefter.If cost were no object, what work of art would you have in your bedroom?
Pope Innocent X, by Velázquez, in the Doria Pamphili Gallery.***ZENO X GALLERY | ANTWERP, BELGIUMARTISTS: Michaël Borremans, Marlene Dumas, Mark Manders, Luc Tuymans, Jack Whitten
ESTABLISHED:
1981CONTACT: zeno-x.com; info@zeno-x.com; +32 3 216 16 26FRANK DEMAEGD, OWNER AND FOUNDERHow did you get your start as a gallerist?Since my childhood I was fascinated by art. My hobby turned into my profession.
How have you generally discovered new artists? Are there any new discoveries for the gallery whom you’re especially excited about?I try to keep my eyes open and visit lots of places. Grace Schwindt is a young German artist I discovered in a residency at WIELS Brussels.
What was your biggest show of the past year? The duo show by Luc Tuymans and Marlene Dumas was very special.What’s one show you loved in the past year at a gallery other than your own?
Michaël Borremans’s show “Black Mould” at David Zwirner in London.What trend do you see happening in your region right now?
I have the feeling there is a strong tendency toward imagery. People want something for the eye and not solely for the mind.What might you be doing if you weren’t a gallerist?
I would have probably been an architect.
Name the last great book you read, art-related or otherwise.Beautiful!, by Rebekka Reinhard.
If cost were no object, what work of art would you have in your bedroom?
Portrait of a Young Girl, circa 1470, by Petrus Christus, in Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie.
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