Art Antwerp
Ronad Ophuis, A Reunited Refugee Family from Syria. Waterlandplein, Amsterdam 2022
Upstream Gallery proudly presents a duo presentation with works by Ronald Ophuis and Joseph Palframan during Art Antwerp 2024.
Art Antwerp is an art fair that presents galleries that show both established artists and new talent. In 2023, Art Antwerp’s Invitation Committeeselectedandinvitedover70participatinggalleriesfrom 12 different countries, representing a mix of mid-career and emerging artists.
The two artists are from different generations and backgrounds, but both deal with political themes and the human condition. Ophuis’ paintings address human behaviour, suffering, migration, pain and comfort. Palframan’s work focuses on identity and (post)colonial aesthetics.
Ronald Ophuis
Ronald Ophuis (1968, The Netherlands) lives and works in Amsterdam. He studied at the Aki Academy of Fine Arts in Enschede and the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam.
With his distinctive paint treatment and meticulous compositions, Ophuis strategically makes use of what the aesthetic of oil painting offers him. But the subjects he chooses are usually confrontational, expecting the viewer to take a stand on what is depicted. With the power of painting, Ophuis challenges the viewer to relate to the content of the work.
He first gained recognition for his large-scale paintings addressing the violence of conflict and its psychological aftermath. In his more recent works, Ophuis has shifted toward exploring abstract concepts such as trauma and peace. Despite their thematic evolution, his works consistently center on universal human experiences— belonging, migration, identity, pain, and solace.
Ronald Ophuis
A Reunited Refugee Family from Syria. Waterlandplein, Amsterdam 2022, 2024 Oil
on linen 210 x 300 cm
These wintery paintings show the landscape scenery of the Western Balkan Migrant Route, one of the main migratory paths into Europe.
Ronald Ophuis Western Balkan Migrant Route 2024 III, 2024 Oil on canvas
50 x 70 cm
Ronald
Western Balkan Migrant Oil
Migrant Route 2024 IV, 2024 on canvas x 70 cm
Ronald Ophuis
Ronald Ophuis
Western Balkan Migrant Route 2024 V, 2024
Oil on canvas
50 x 70 cm
Civilian, 2019-2024, 2024
Ronald Ophuis
Oil on canvas
50 x 40 cm
Ophuis's portraiture delves into the depthsof human emotion, often presenting raw, unvarnished depictions of individuals in momentsof vulnerability, conflict, or trauma. His painterlyrealism captures subtle expressions that compel empathy while raising questions about morality, memory,and the impactof violence.
Portrait of a widow from Srebrenica, her husband killed by Serbian militia.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, especially its eastern region, has been labeled as the “Rape Capital of the World,” with the prevalence and severity of various forms of sexual violence deemed the most severe globally. Rape is frequently employed as a tool of warfare in Congo, proving highly effective as it not only inflicts harm on its immediate victims but also devastates entire communities. While women are primarily targeted, sexual violence against men is also common.
Ronald Ophuis
Rape Victim East Congo. 2020 (II), 2023
Oil on canvas
50 x 40 cm
Ronald Ophuis
Varlam Shalamov, 2024
Oil on canvas
50 x 40 cm
Portrait of Varlam Sjalamov, aRussian dissident and writer who wrote mainly about his time as a prisoner in The Goelag.
Ronald Ophuis
Primo Levi, 2024
Oil on canvas
50 x 40 cm
Portrait of writer Primo Levi, aJewish-Italian writer. He wrote about his time in a concentration camp.
Joseph
Palframan
Joseph Thabang Palframan (1997, Namibia) was raised in England and Botswana. He studied Fine Art at the Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten in the Netherlands and Art History at Leiden University.
Now based in Belgium, his practice spans both social and studio-based projects, with a focus on painting. Palframan’s work focuses on identity and (post)colonial aesthetics.
Currently Palframan is exploring Pointillism, examining its connections to scientific and technological advancements and its departure from realism. Palframan’s work is influenced by artists such as Dumile Feni, Gerard Sekoto, Gladys Mgudlandlu, Thami Mnyele, and Sam Nzima.
Joseph Palframan
A visit to a community elder, the photograph, 2024 Oil on linen 110 x 115 cm
“When I was in Paballelo my uncle took me to visit an elder. So the composition is me, the elder and her daughter, with the photographer in the doorway. A couple different photos were used for the composition.”
“Interestingly, while Joseph’s depiction of the Atomium is predominantly painted in the foreground in one of the works, it appears in the background of the group of youngsters – as if captured in the filming of a music video. Rap perhaps. Even though the context of the landmark, and its connection with the 1958 Brussels World Fair is evident to most, the monument appears as a seemingly unspectacular backdrop, caught in the mist of things, a part of a contempoary circulation of knowledge and cultural references it remains unaware of.” [...]
Taken from text ‘The Atomium and Other Lessons That Came FromPointillism’by ArthurCordier
Joseph Palframan
Free Capo, 2024
Oil on linen
80 x 80 cm
Joseph Palframan Lady in a crowd, 2024 Oil on linen
35 x 35 cm
“From the 19th century onwards, western nations have built more monuments than ever before, often at the expense of others. Monuments which in turn served as a narrative of national myth-making flooded with self-proclaimed splendor, and feasts of engineering. Left aside the monumentalised understanding of cultural nationalism, affective nationalism (1) seems to be a much more suitable route in understanding Joseph’s take on Brussels’ Atomium. The suggestion of affective nationalism is to oppose a masculinist reading and disembodied framing of national projects, in opposition to a much more subtle, humbling, and generative reading of felt experiences.
Affective nationalism opens to the « fluidity, the mobility and the circulation associated with affective nationalism, instead of precise reference and benchmarks which allow a clean-cut identification ». In other words, affective nationalism is about « attending to how feelings and emotions emerge through practices, objects and materially heterogeneous assemblages which are imbricated with the nation » (2)” [...]
1.ElisabethMilitz (2019): Towards affective nationalism,Gender,Place & Culture.
2.The spaces and politics of affective nationalism (2020)EnvironmentandPlanning:Politics andSpace,38 (4),579-579
Excerpt of textwrittenby ArthurCordier
Joseph Palframan
The Atomium/ An engineering spirit, 2024 Oil on linen
110 x 115 cm
