Future Nostalgia

NAK Neuer Aachener Kunstverein is pleased to present Future Nostalgia, the first institutional solo exhibition of artist Joëlle Dubois. Joëlle Dubois is a precise observer of today’s society. And of herself. The stories her works tell are therefore both: at once universal and personal. The artist’s paintings are strongly influenced by personal memories and experiences and penetrate the realms of femininity, fertility, loss and sexuality, which are symbolically inscribed in the images and waiting to be decoded. In her works, which are strongly inspired by non-Western art and culture, the Belgian artist also negotiates the absurdities of self-presentation after previous supposed self-optimization of the body, the voyeuristic aspects of digitization through social media, explicit scenes from the private sphere, strange situations and twists of life, and the peculiar experience of being human in general. Her mostly female protagonists are of multi-ethnic origin and often contradict the common, since standardized, ideals of beauty. The depiction of the female form fascinates the painter; she longs to normalize the body, to portray body positivity. Dubois’ works are also skillfully peppered with allusions to art history: quotations from famous works, painters, compositions or styles, as well as the iconographic use of symbols are not uncommon. In addition, the artist is committed to today’s zeitgeist, pop cultural references permeate her oeuvre incessantly. NAK Neuer Aachener Kunstverein has now succeeded for the first time in bringing together works from all of Dubois’ creative phases at the Kunstverein. The result is not only an overview of the artist’s entire oeuvre, but also a multi-layered exhibition that reveals cross-references within itself and to the outside world, provides new artistic as well as social impulses, and thus makes it unmistakably clear: Joëlle Dubois is currently one of the most important feminist positions in contemporary art. Joëlle Dubois (*1990 in Ghent, Belgium) studied at the LUCA School of Arts in Ghent. She lives and works in Ghent.