The new gallery season is kicking off with a bang this week: from Friday to Sunday the Brussels Art Days take over the city, bringing together a multitude of exhibitions in over 30 galleries. We’ve previewed the eclectic programme and picked the 8 shows you really shouldn’t miss!

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1. Anke Weyer at Office Baroque

Runs until 7 November

Anke‘s colorful, vibrant paintings bursting of energy already caught our eye at Art Brussels earlier this year. Accordingly, we’re delighted Office Baroque gallery is treating us with her first full-blown European solo show.

2. Jean Bedez at Albert Baronian

Runs until 24 October

At Albert Baronian, Jean Bedez shows a fascinating selection of recent drawings, in which the French artist revisits old masterpieces and ancient Greek legends to merge them with contemporary themes. His large-scaled, overly detailed drawings sometimes take six months to complete, revealing a very high level of technical skill. 

3. T.R. Ericsson at Harlan Levey Projects

Runs until 18 October

The exhibition title “All My Love, Always No Matter What” is taken from one of the letters T.R. Ericsson received from his mother while living away from home. After losing her to suicide in 2003, the American artist later made this drastic experience a subject of his art, incorporating countless photos, writings, and artifacts into this immensely personal, intimate work.

4. Matthias Bitzer at Almine Rech

Runs until 24 October

In this exhibition at Almine Rech, German artist Matthias Bitzer not only presents new drawings, paintings and collages, but also creates a dialogue with the gallery space by incorporating site-specific installations and wall works. “Root / ruin / rhapsody” is loosely inspired by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky’s modernist short story “Quadraturin”, and once again reveals the multifacetedness of Bitzer’s captivating practice.

5. David Noonan at Xavier Hufkens

Runs until 24 October

Australian-born, London-based artist David Noonan is mainly known for his large-scale, screen-printed linen collages, which he bases on found images from film stills, books, magazines, and photo archives. The intriguing results are poetic, melancholic and slightly surreal. Noonan’s recent works now on show at Xavier Hufkens, are a mixture of self-genereated photographs of vintage textiles and found images. “I like to think of them as these little hermetic things that have a certain energy or atmosphere that can wash over you, affecting your mood. I don’t want to spell something out; my pieces are more about evoking something in a viewer”, says the artist himself.

6. Dan Rees at MOT International

Runs until 31 October

Over the summer break the Brussels branch of MOT International packed up and moved to a brand new space in Avenue Louise. The inaugural exhibition features a selection of paintings by English, Berlin-based artist Dan Rees; colorful, psychedelic works from his so-called Artex series. The latter has a hidden social connotation: “Nowadays people spend more time removing Artex from old homes than they do installing it, it is considered out of date or naff and not representing a push towards gentrification. The paintings that I make are entering homes, generally expensive ones, somehow completing the circle”, he explains.

7. John Stezaker at Independent Régence

Runs until 24 October

British artist John Stezaker has renowned awards as the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize under his belt and his works are part of major museum collections such as the Tate or the Museum of Modern Art. Here, he shows a combination of his gorgeous, slightly surreal signature collages and found objects, mixing material from film stills and cinematic promo material with hands from display mannequins. By the way, it’s the very first show in the new space opened by New York’s Independent art fair.

8. Chris Martin at Rodolphe Janssen

Runs until 17 October

American artist Chris Martin has mainly made a name for himself with his playful, abstract paintings which at times incorporate newspaper clippings, vinyl records, pillows, photographs or glitter and draw inspiration from lots of different areas, ranging from pop culture and street art to Buddhism and indigenous cultures. This time Martin will not only present his creations inside but interestingly also outside the gallery, for example attached to the facades of houses.