Opening April 6, 2022, 5-9 pm

The Xippas gallery in Geneva is pleased to present The Missing Script 4. Exit Highway by Robert Devriendt. On this occasion, the artist will unveil a series of small paintings assembled like a film montage: a glitzy car against a purple night-time sky, the cool look of a girl with a rucksack in a forest, the web of bare branches in a wood, an orange biker jacket against a background of wooden walls and a pair of binoculars between the autumn leaves on the ground. It all exudes the suspense of film stills. The thematic approach and the combination of paintings are not haphazard and reveal the relationship between the artist and the art of painting, cinematography and images in general.

The Missing Script 4. Exit Highway is the most recent project of Devriendt and can be seen as a large series that has evolved over several years. View it as “a unique interpretation of a storyboard”. Dark characters and surprising objects are depicted in changing decors in which a drama may be suggested. The artist looks at processing images in which the viewer plays a central role. He makes an outspoken statement within the contemporary image culture and vision of reality. The spectator is invited to act as a detective interpreting the ‘broken stories’ and challenge his own imagination via the gaps between the paintings. According to Devriendt, we are all voyeurs.

By using an illusionistic, refined painting technique and leaving dramatic room for mystery, the artworks take on an intriguing, magnetic attraction that holds viewers in their spell.

Robert Devriendt, born in 1955 in Belgium, works and lives in Bruges. His work has been presented in solo exhibitions at Mocak, Krakow (2016), Groeningemuseum, Bruges (2015), M-Museum Leuven (2010), Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle (2009), and ICC, Antwerp (1987). His works has been presented in group exhibitions such at M HKA, Antwerp (2019), Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels (2013), Mario Mauroner Contemporary Art, Salzburg (2012), National Art Museum of China (Beijing), Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels (2009) and SMAK, Ghent (2009).