Werner Mannaers

Technique and Artistic Style

The work of Werner Mannaers occupies a restless space between the figurative and the abstract, drifting between the lyrical and the expressive. Working primarily with oil paint on canvas, he employs an improvised method that favors the immediate over the premeditated. His process is one of constant accumulation and revision, defined by heavy layering and overpainting. This layering creates a dense, physical history on the surface of the work, where the act of creation is never fully hidden but rather integrated into the final composition.

Mannaers practices what he calls "artistic cannibalism," a method of reclaiming the past to build the present. He frequently cuts fragments out of existing paintings to incorporate them into new works, a practice of sampling that builds a complex, layered context. This technique allows him to weave together disparate elements, including motifs, signs, and language. In his drawings, this interest in the process of thought is made visible through the deliberate inclusion of fragments of crossed-out text, leaving the traces of his own hesitation and correction on the page.

There is a certain playfulness in how he navigates the weight of history. He embeds his paintings with references to art history, philosophical citations, and various elements of popular culture. By pairing these high and low cultural markers, he uses irony and self-deprecation to soften the more existential themes that emerge from his layered surfaces. The result is a visual language that resists easy categorization, remaining perpetually in motion between the sign and the symbol.

Key Works and Notable Exhibitions

The trajectory of Mannaers's career is marked by a restless engagement with scale and space. In 2019, he presented The Cherry Creek Stories, a triptych of three large-scale works that occupied a central role in his exhibition at the Álvaro Alcázar Gallery. This period of production also saw the creation of Mint / Jazzz / (le petit paysAge) in 2012, a work that reflects his ongoing interest in the intersection of disparate visual languages. His practice often involves a playful, sometimes ironic, dialogue with physical objects, as seen in The Glaze, which incorporates a copied porcelain figurine into the composition.

His presence in the gallery circuit has been steady, moving through various international spaces. The work THE SCENT OF MIMOSA > 1/2 was featured at the Roberto Polo Gallery, contributing to a body of work that resists easy categorization. More recently, his recent output has been the subject of a solo show at the Rik Rosseels Gallery in 2024. This period of activity also included a presence at Art on Paper Brussels in 2024, where he was featured by Almine Rech.

• Untitled, about 1989
• Untitled, about 1990

Where to See the Works Today

The presence of Mannaers's paintings in contemporary spaces reflects a career marked by steady engagement with significant European galleries. His work has been presented in Brussels at the Roberto Polo Gallery, where his layered, improvisational approach was given room to breathe. Such exhibitions have allowed viewers to witness the physical reality of his "artistic cannibalism" and the complex textures he builds upon the canvas.

His reach extends through several other key institutions that have hosted his practice. The Álvaro Alcázar Gallery has featured his compositions, providing a setting for his dialogue between figurative and abstract forms. In more recent years, his art has been associated with the Almine Rech gallery and has been featured at the Rik Rosseels Gallery. These venues continue to provide the necessary context for his ongoing exploration of language, sign, and memory.