Artist Els Cools Exhibition

Belgian artist Els Cools, born in 1966 and educated in Belgium and Slovakia, has lived in Denmark since 1992. She has exhibited in numerous countries including Belgium, South Korea, Germany, Spain, Italy, Sweden and Dubai.

Her paintings begin with everyday scenes that are quietly undermined by surrealist, grotesque or humorous elements. Chaos appears only as a crack in the wallpaper or glimpsed through a hole in the tree canopy - the violent hides behind muted colours and delicate patterns. The figures move through stylised sets with a layer of melancholic dust over them: strange yet recognisable to anyone who remembers childhood's most sacred play spaces.

Her background as an illustrator in books and magazines leaves clear traces in her paintings. Els Cools works from the idea that the image should set the viewer on a journey to find the story themselves - the artist merely provides the ingredients: décor, props and people. As a graphic designer, she deliberately works with the contrast between light and dark (chiaroscuro) and plays with structure and texture in backgrounds that are sometimes abstract paintings in themselves. The colours are muted like faded tin cans, and the walls in the images are worn and peeling.

Together with her husband Oliver Streich and photographer Lars Skaaning, Els Cools has a permanent exhibition in the gallery Galeriget in Faaborg's medieval town.

The exhibition can be seen in Gudenåhuset at Bjerringbro Library during the library's staffed opening hours: Monday-Wednesday 10-18, Thursday-Friday 10-17 and Saturday 10-13. The library is closed on Sundays.