Active as a painter since the late1990s, Tina Gillen (b. 1972, Luxembourg) works on the interface between figuration and abstraction, between the second and third dimension. Her work addresses themes and notions such as architecture, landscape, contemplation, the circulation of images, and the relationship between inner space and the exterior world. She teaches painting at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp.
Gillen has presented solo exhibitions at BOZAR, Brussels (2015); Mudam Luxembourg (2012) and M–Museum Leuven (2010). She has also taken part in numerous group exhibitions at international institutions including Mudam Luxembourg (2018, 2010, 2009); the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (2012); Mu.ZEE, Ostend (2010); Wiels, Brussels (2009); M HKA, Antwerp (2007) and Platform Garanti, Istanbul (2004). Two monographic publications have been released about her work: Echo (MER. Paper Kunsthalle, 2016), and Necessary Journey (Hatje Cantz, 2009).
In 2022, Gillen will present the exhibition Faraway So Close in the context of the Luxembourg Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale. As a result of her desire to link her artistic practice and her research and teaching activities, the research project Forms of Life is a companion to her exhibition project for Venice.