Laurens Legiers (b. 1994, Hasselt, Belgium) lives and works in Antwerp. It rains there quite often. While staring out his studio window, he saw a puddle, splashing and growing in a light storm. He wanted to paint the ripples created by raindrops on the water. He composed several canvases on this theme, which were gradually consumed by the browns of the soil stirred-up in the groundwater, the greens of the leaves that fell and floated on its surface.
When it finally stopped raining, he walked home through the city park on a route he takes everyday. The sunset light sparkled on a nearby pond. He carried the way the water reflected the pinks and purples from the sky and the light leaks from the clouds with him back to the studio the next day. Sunnier, brighter environments overtook his canvases in the days following.
Legiers’ practice is a humble one—he developed a dabbing technique so that his brush, and by extension, his hand disappears within his compositions. If God in his details, then there is no oxygen left for the ego. SQUINTING TO SEE MORE CLEARLY is an exquisitely rendered reminder that if one blurs his vision from time to time, grand patterns begin to emerge: after a period of rain, the sun usually follows, and vice versa. Serenity lies within this continuity.
SQUINTING TO SEE MORE CLEARLY is Legiers’ second solo exhibition with Nicodim and his first in Los Angeles.
Laurens Legiers (b. 1994, Belgium) lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium. Drawing on images and atmospheric qualities of the Romantic period, Legiers reinvents signature tropes to create his own perplexing yet captivating visual library, paying homage to the beauty and harmony found in snapshots of everyday life. Exhibitions include SQUINTING TO SEE MORE CLEARLY, Nicodim Annex, Los Angeles (2024, solo); Life, Still, Fundación Casa Santa Ana, Panama City (2024); A whimsy odyssey, PLUS-ONE Gallery, Antwerp (2024, solo); Tone Poem, The Hole Gallery, Los Angeles (2024); Aesthetic Echoes, PLUS-ONE Gallery, Antwerp (2024); Summer Escape, GAA Gallery, Provincetown (2023); if only, Nicodim, New York (2023, solo); DISEMBODIED, Nicodim, New York (2023); Dusk till Dawn, PLUS- ONE Gallery, Antwerp (2022, solo); Walking, running, falling, L21 Gallery, Mallorca (2022); A Veil of Thoughts, Gallery Vacancy, Shanghai (2021, solo); Rewinding, Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles (2021); Nature Morte, The Hole, New York (2021); Soft Thoughts, PLUS-ONE Gallery, Antwerp (2020, solo); Universes 3, WOAW Gallery, Hong Kong (2020); and Arcades, Base Alpha, Antwerp (2019).