Axel Vervoordt Gallery is proud to present you with a new copy of the book, simply titled II. The book offers an overview of all exhibitions that took place at our locations at Kanaal and Hong Kong between 2017 and 2019.

II is a sequel to the first edition, I, which was published in 2017 and offered a retrospective look at the exhibitions beginning in 2011 at our founding location in the historic Vlaeykensgang in the centre of Antwerp. In 2014, we broadened our horizons to Asia by opening a space in Hong Kong’s Entertainment Building.

If I was the first chapter, then II may be seen as a postlude to a chronicle that’s still being written. In 2017, we moved from Antwerp to Kanaal, where we’re fortunate to have three exhibition spaces: Escher, Patio, and Terrace. Architecturally, each space has its own characteristics and presents intriguing possibilities for artists. Additionally, this theme continued in 2019 as we moved into a new space in Wong Chuk Hang on the south coast of Hong Kong.

We’re grateful for the opportunity to present this book to you as it offers an comprehensive overview of the exhibitions that artists associated with our gallery have organized in these spaces. In the form of a portfolio, it shows how we present a varied range of artists based in the foundations of post-war avant-garde art movements and artists who enter into dialogue with contemporary, and at times social, themes. Migration, repression, indecisiveness. Equality, unity, emancipation. Art can be a vehicle for depicting the challenges, difficulties, and opportunities we face as a society. For some artists, art has been a way of coping with their disruptive past experiences. Other artists do not interpret these themes in their works, but offer us a platform for reflection and contemplation, which is increasingly needed in our increasingly rapidly changing society.

As a gallery, we only write part of the story. The visitor, collector, and admirer completes the exhibition with their opinion and reflection on the works of art. We hope that this book can be a testimony to these reflections, and that it can offer inspiration in an era that requires it.