Ann Van Hoey
Born in Belgium in 1956, Ann Van Hoey initially trained as a commercial engineer, then developed a passion for ceramics and changed careers. In less than ten years she established herself on the international art scene.
First noticed at the Vallauris Ceramics Biennial in 2008, Ann Van Hoey went on to accumulate a string of exhibitions and awards, while her work entered major public and private collections.
She was recently appointed Commander of the Order of the Belgian Crown.
Through a system of cut-outs, incisions and a series of folds reminiscent of the Japanese technique of origami, Ann Van Hoey creates forms in which geometric rigour and sobriety of expression accompany, even amplify, the elegant poetry of lines and volumes. The artist leaves nothing to chance, revealing a search for perfection and great simplicity that transform these “objects” into true sculptures.
"Absolute formal perfection", wrote Guillaume Morel, pointing to a radicality that Ann Van Hoey certainly shares with the minimalist sculptors she admires, but which in her case – far from their avant-garde austerity – is a source of beauty and delight. To their slogan "less is more", she responds with "ever more simplicity", or even "ever more calm". From the minimalist ethos she retains the principle that reduction, repetition and seriality allow us to play with the slightest deviations, with striking subtleties […].
And the colours. Red. Yellow. Orange. Blue. Green. Such unalloyed joy of colour has not been experienced since… perhaps childhood. Just as intense, but far warmer, matte and tactile ever since the artist substituted the glossy lacquers of her earlier pieces for engobe, these colours bathe the viewer in light. Objects bursting with precision and exactness, opening through colour onto the unlimited, as if washed with sky, blue, red, yellow, green!
Manuel Jover, journalist and art critic, excerpt from the 2021 exhibition catalogue
Public and private collections
- Royal Museum of Art and History (KMKG), Brussels, Belgium
- Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), New York, USA
- Alfred Ceramic Art Museum, Alfred University, New York, USA
- Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche, Faenza, Italy
- New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan
- Ariana Museum, Geneva, Switzerland
- Qingdao Shinan District People’s Government, Qingdao, China
- Cheongju Interantional Craft Museum, Cheongju, South Korea
- World Ceramic Exposition Foundation (WOCEF), Seoul, South Korea
- City Ceramic Industrial Technical Laboratory, Mizunami City, Gifu Prefecture, Japan
- Mudel Museum, Deinze, Belgium
- The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, USA
- Jingdezhen Ceramics Museum, Jingdezhen City, China
- City Museum of Varaždin, Croatia
- Design Museum Gent, permanent loan Dirk Schrijvers, Belgium
- Stedelijke Musea Mechelen, Belgium
- ' Het Gasthuis' Cultural Centre, Aarschot, Belgium
- Frank Steyaert Private Collection, Ghent, Belgium
- Hetjens Museum, Düsseldorf, Germany
- State Art Collection, Ireland
- Lotte Reimers-Stiftung, Deidesheim, Germany
- Kecskemét Collection, Kecskemét, Hungary
- Grassi Museum, Leipzig, Austria
- Openluchtmuseum Bokrijk, Genk, Belgium
- Keramiekmuseum Princessehof, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
- Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York, USA
- Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon, France
- American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA), Pomona, California, USA
Solo exhibitions at the gallery
Ann Van Hoey – Léa Renard
Ann Van Hoey
Ursula Morley-Price – Ann Van Hoey
Ann Van Hoey
Works
Recent solo exhibitions
2025
Marc Heiremans Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium, solo exhibition
2024
Landcommanderij Alden Biesen, Bilzen, Belgium, solo exhibition
Marc Heiremans Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium, solo exhibition
Galerie de l'Ancienne Poste, Toucy, France, duo exhibition
2022
Lucy Lacoste Gallery, Concord, Maine, USA, solo exhibition
Maud & Mabel, London, United Kingdom, solo exhibition
2021
Lucy Lacoste Gallery, Concord, Maine, USA, solo exhibition
Galerie de l'Ancienne PosteToucy, France, solo exhibition
2020
A-quadraat Galerie, Vorden, The Netherlands, Ann Van Hoey - Rik Lina
2019
Museum Torhouts Aardewerk, Torhout, Belgium, solo exhibition
Marc Heiremans Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium, solo exhibition
Galerie de l’Ancienne Poste, Toucy, France, Ursula Morley-Price – Ann Van Hoey
Galerie Terra, Delft, The Netherlands, Rachel Wood – Ann Van Hoey
2018
Gallery Life Seeding, Tapei, Taiwan, solo exhibition
2017
Galerie de l'Ancienne PosteToucy, France, solo exhibition
Gallery A-Quadraat, Doet Boersma en Ann Van Hoey, Vorden, The Netherlands
Kunstgalerij De Mijlpaal, Peter Vanbekbergen en Ann Van hoey, Heusden-Zolder, Belgium
2016
Het Atelier – Roland Rens, Aarschot, Belgium, solo exhibition
2015
Puls Contemporary Ceramics with Jean-Francois Fouilhoux), Brussels
Tortus, Copenhagen, Denmark, solo exhibition
2013
Galerie Terra, Delft, The Netherlands, solo exhibition
2012
Mudel Museum, Deinze, Belgium : solo exhibition
2011
Puls Contemporary Ceramics, Gustavo Pérez – Ann Van Hoey, Brussels
Galerie Marianne Brand, Carouge, Geneva, Switzerland, solo exhibition
2010
Mechelen Cultural Center, Made in Mechelen, Ann Van Hoey – Carine Neutjens
Galerie du Don, Le Fel, France, Ashraf Hanna – Ann Van Hoe
