Tal R's Woman Behind Fence exhibition at Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp

Woman Behind Fence, Danish artist Tal R's fourth solo show at Tim Van Laere Gallery in Antwerp, started almost by accident. Rather than beginning with an idea, he gathered what was piling up around his studio (discarded bottles, worn brushes, empty paint tubes) and bundled the scraps together with tape and papier-mâché. One small pink result, Woman Looking Over Fence, set off a whole series of women glimpsed behind cars, sofas, mirrors and clocks.

The paintings, drawings and sculptures keep their figures partly out of sight, and Tal R doesn't pin a meaning on them. Fences join his long fascination with windows and keyholes, those partial views into somewhere else. In the sculptures, worked in plaster, ceramics, bronze and wood, some forms lean gently while others look close to falling apart, a collapse the artist treats as a chance for something to become new. Look out for the crayon drawings such as Judith behind Clock and Emma behind Bed, and the tall, pastel-streaked Ursula in the Morning.

Born in 1967 and based in Copenhagen, Tal R has shown at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and the Pinakothek der Moderne. The show runs from 15 October to 21 November, worth a slow wander for anyone in Antwerp who likes questions more than answers.

Our summary of a story from We Heart, published 19 October 2026. Read the original