Two-dimensional work in the Vleeshal is almost unthinkable: the walls lack any smoothness and clarity. Niches, oak doors and arches determine the structure. Two-dimensional work that is placed between them without consideration, loses itself in the whims of the Gothic space.

An exhibition in the Vleeshal with paintings by Robert Zandvliet seems therefore impossible and painful. Where his delicate and at the same time monumental canvases desire peace and clarity in order to fully show their possibilities, the Vleeshal's gravity would make them seem fully out-of-place.

To escape this danger, Robert Zandvliet has made his own space in the Vleeshal. Like his paintings, this space is robust and sophisticated at the same time, showing a striking insight into spatial interactions and possibilities. Through its shape and placement in the hall, this space enhances the meaning of the paintings shown.

These new paintings, which have not previously been presented, address the absence of the final image. The paradox is that in all their precision, concreteness and definition, they determine the emptiness and absence of the decisive momentum: they show a blank screen, an alert lense, a row of folded cinema chairs. The image may begin, but is not there yet. The colors are the vibrating and transparent heralds of it – or perhaps the remnants.

The almost hallucinative light in the cinema-like space also makes it into a time machine that in a strange way ended up in the gothic era. The blue, modern glow blends with the darkness of the hall as if it were just a projection.