Hadassah Emmerich (°Heerlen, NL – lives & works in Brussels) obtained her Masters degree of Fine Arts in the famous Goldsmiths College in Londen. Her work is shown internationally in musea and art fairs. She is represented in the collections Museum Voorlinden (Caldic Collection); Federal Government, Brussels; Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht; Gemeentemuseum Den Haag; Schunck Heerlen; Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arnhem; Rabobank Nederland, Fries Museum Leeuwarden, Centraal museum Utrecht, Muzee Ostend.

In recurrent effervescence, the Whitehouse Gallery brings together the work of two artists whose visual language is indebted to nature. Both steal forms from plants, either recovering or imitating organic material, and they create works that seem to be dying or depict a renewal of energy. A duality that is also reflected in the title of this exhibition, recurrent effervescence, which alludes to the concept of collective effervescence that was invented by the sociologist Émile Durkheim as early as 1912. This principle describes a shared or collective experience of a movement or moment. Nowadays, it might refer to the feeling of joie de vivre that arises from a social event, such as a festival. We might find a ‘recurring effervescence’ in the natural forms of spring blossoms, but also in a social context. Just think of the cultural sector’s revival, the thriving nightlife, our physical freedoms and being able to breathe without a mask.

Both Emmerich’s and Vanello’s works include plants, fruits and body parts that seem to transform themselves and know no boundaries. They appear to effortlessly develop into new forms in a liberated universe in which the objectified one-dimensional gaze is both challenged and seduced by nature’s resilience.

Hadassah Emmerich presents new works in which erotically charged images fuse with ornamental forms and exotic patterns. Her recently developed collages are composed of relics of stencils cut from vinyl, which have been her faithful companions in the creation of both paintings and large-scale murals for many years. These collages conceal an exotic imagery that is no longer explicit and, through the linear abstraction, evokes Georgia O’Keeffe’s hypnotic flowers and Mexican landscapes. Colourful lush compositions emerge, brought to life by the growing accumulation of tangible layers. These painted scales lure and intimidate the viewer like imperishable peacock feathers that symbolise freedom and eternal life.

Fragment exhibition text Louise Goegebeur, June 2022