BIG ART Rotterdam 2026
janinebeangallery presents Marie Louise Elshout
11–13 September 2026
Codrico Fabriek, Rotterdam
From 11 to 13 September 2026, BIG ART will take place in Rotterdam for the first time. For its twelfth edition, the art fair moves into the historic Codrico Fabriek on Katendrecht. More than one hundred large scale works in painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, light art, video, and installation will enter into a direct dialogue with the raw industrial architecture of the former factory complex.
At BIG ART, janinebeangallery will present the Dutch artist Marie Louise Elshout with her multipart work Hunters at Dawn.
Hunters at Dawn unfolds at the threshold between night and day, dream and reality. Within a luminous and mysterious forest, turquoise and intense shades of green encounter an almost artificial neon pink. Two masked rabbit figures occupy this unsettling landscape.
At first glance, the scene appears almost playful and recalls the visual language of a fairy tale. Only on closer inspection does a small hare become visible, hanging from a string. The seemingly poetic woodland scene gradually reveals itself as a complex image of vulnerability, control, and violence.
The neon pink is more than an expressive colour. As Marie Louise Elshout has explained, it refers to the artificial world created by humanity. Spreading across the forest floor, it becomes a metaphor for contemporary ecological imbalance.
Hunters at Dawn does not illustrate a conventional fairy tale. Instead, the work draws on fairy tales, mythology, and folklore to explore how images preserve collective memory and emotional experience. It asks why certain images can appear both seductive and disturbing.
Like many of Elshout’s works, Hunters at Dawn resists a definitive interpretation. The work invites slow looking and repeated encounters, allowing its atmosphere and psychological tension to unfold gradually.
Presented within the monumental architecture of the Codrico Fabriek, the work enters into a distinctive spatial context. The historic harbour setting, robust silos, and industrial interiors form a powerful counterpoint to Elshout’s meticulously constructed and psychologically charged visual world.
Visitor Information
BIG ART Rotterdam
11–13 September 2026
Daily from 11 am to 6 pm
Codrico Fabriek
Veerlaan 19
3072 AN Rotterdam
The Netherlands
For further information about the work and its availability, please contact janinebeangallery.
