Open to the public: 

Tuesday, December 19, 2023 - Tuesday February 20, 2024

Monday-Friday, 11am - 5pm

Opening reception:

Tuesday, December 19, 2023, 6 - 8pm

Artist Conversation:

Jennifer McGregor interviews Hedwig Brouckaert

Wednesday, February 7,  6 - 8pm 

Peel (America)

Project: ARTspace is pleased to present a solo exhibition by New York artist Hedwig Brouckaert titled Peel (America). This work comprises an installation of found porcelain tiles built up with layered paper collages from glossy magazines depicting images of skin. 

From discarded glossy magazines such as Vogue, Brouckaert cuts out images of models' skin and layers it over and over with glue to create a bas relief of paper on porcelain tiles. She then sands, cuts, and carves with sharp tools to reveal the deeper layers beneath. The skins peel, revealing strange patterns and breaking open boundaries. Tiles are omnipresent in New York City, the architectural "skin" of building lobbies and subway tunnels. Since moving to NYC in 2011, Brouckaert has been fascinated by the complex images created by the dirt and grime that collects on old tiled walls. She finds them repulsive and beautiful at the same time, a document of the passage of time and of the layered society that is the city. 

As a teenage girl, Brouckaert fantasized about hijacking the ubiquitous commercial images of skin that assault passersby on city streets, by painting out all the billboards in black. For the past decade, her work has zeroed in on advertising and mass media imagery, referencing its distorted messages of desire and identity. She finds fertile ground in the tension between a photographic representational starting point and the illegible result of her extensive layering process. Brouckaert’s work reflects on mortality and human vanity in the hyper-consumerist world of today. 

Curator and arts planner Jennifer McGregor will lead a conversation with the artist in the gallery on Wednesday, February 7. She is contributing an essay on Brouckaert's work for a catalog, which will be available in the gallery.

This work has been supported by a generous grant from Cafe Royal Foundation. 

Hedwig Brouckaert is a Belgian-American artist living and working in Long Island City, NY and Ghent, Belgium. She received an MFA from the University of California, Davis after completing a Masters in sculpture at the Sint-Lukas Hogeschool in Brussels, and a Postgraduate at the Higher Institute for Fine Arts in Belgium. Brouckaert has received numerous grants: from the Flemish Government in Belgium, from Café Royal Cultural Foundation; and fellowships including NYFA Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program, Rockefeller Foundation – Bellagio (IT), Liguria Study Center Bogliasco (IT), Cité Internationale des Arts Paris, Hafnarborg Museum of Iceland, Yaddo (NY), Anderson Ranch (CO), Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and FLACC (BE). Her work has appeared in numerous exhibitions throughout the US and internationally, including ‘Re/pro/ducing Complexity’ curated by Peter Lodermeyer with work by Jorinde Voigt and Nelleke Beltjens at the Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens (BE) and the Städtische Galerie Villa Zanders (DE); exhibitions at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center (TH), VOLTA NY with Jan Dhaese Gallery, Galerie EL (BE), Pen+Brush (NY), Transmitter (NY), Kentler International Drawing Space (NY), Kunstraum (NY), Project: ARTspace (NY), ChaShaMa (NY), Murray State University (KY), McGlothlin Center for the Arts at Emory & Henry College (VA), University of Ghent (BE), and Pallazo Vendramin Costa (Venice IT). Brouckaert’s work has been discussed in the Brooklyn Rail, the New York Times, Blackbook, ArtSpiel, Uncovered, the ArtCouch, and KunstHart (BE).  

Learn more about Brouckaerts' work and career at hedwigbrouckaert.net and on instagram at @hedwig_brouckaert

Jennifer McGregor collaborates with organizations to activate public spaces and create opportunities for artists to engage diverse audiences. Her place-based curating focuses on ecological, historical, and cultural concerns. Through McGregor Consulting she works nationally on public art plans, artwork commissions, and exhibitions. Previously she conceived arts and cultural programming at Wave Hill, Bronx, NY, by activating connections to the environment through adventurous exhibitions and performances that explore nature, culture, and site. She established her expertise in public realm as the first director of New York City’s Percent for Art Program from 1983-1990. She received her BA in Art from Brown University and studied art history at The Graduate School and University Center/CUNY.

Catalogue essay by Jennifer McGregor

Contact: Leslie Kerby or Michelle Weinberg
projectartspacenyc@gmail.com