+ Days + Nights
Abraham Kritzman and Philippe Van Snick
11th April – 8th June 2025
Private View: 10th April 2025
Elizabeth Xi Bauer, Exmouth Market

Elizabeth Xi Bauer presents + Days + Nights, an exhibition of works by contemporary artist Abraham Kritzman and Belgian abstractionist Philippe Van Snick, whose oeuvre combines the heritage of modern abstract art with the conceptual explorations of the 1970s. This is the first time these artists’ works have been in dialogue.

We are also delighted to announce that this exhibition will be part of London Gallery Weekend 2025 edition (6th – 8th June). As part of this, Elizabeth Xi Bauer will present a panel discussion at the Exmouth Market space in June 2025, open to the public.

The title + Days + Nights is a nod to Van Snick’s iconic series Dix Jours / Dix Nuits, which reflects the artist’s ongoing exploration of the duality of day and night, a central theme in his practice. The “+” symbol relates to geometry and composition, echoing a poetic narrative that aligns with the work of Abraham Kritzman, whose own art explores complex structures and themes through abstract expression.

Abraham Kritzman’s multidisciplinary practice centres on an immersive language expressed through painting, sculpture, and printmaking. Inspired by journeys, his work merges mythical narratives, human imagery, architecture, and landscape to create layered and dynamic compositions Kritzman’s works embody a dance of gestures and delicate details that bridge historical and contemporary themes.

For this upcoming exhibition, Abraham Kritzman, has created two new series. The first comprises ten aluminium works cast at the South London-based Foundry Make Touch, run by artist Katrin Hanusch. These double-sided reliefs have undulating images embedded into their front sides. These images are derived from watercolour drawings Kritzman created whilst participating in a residency in Greece in 2023; they are his exploration of notions surrounding love and relationships. This series of works will be installed so that they all hang from the gallery ceiling in the centre of the space, revealing both sides of the works. Moreover, the pictorial arrangement on the reverse of these works comes together once all are installed next to one another, resulting in one large, abstracted image of a couple kissing.

+ Days + Nights will feature large wooden structures with black carved panels on both sides. Each panel displays a flowing, carved image that seamlessly comes together at the edges and expands back at the centre, creating an intricate, abstract design. The flowing engravings evoke a sense of fluidity, with shapes that form and dissolve. Hanging on these wooden panels are delicate ceramic works that introduce a fragmented quality to the display. These ceramic pieces feature small scenes in green and smoky black, drawn onto the clay using metals such as copper, iron, and chrome. When fired at high temperatures, the metals create a variety of colours and effects, further enhancing the overall dynamic of the artwork.

Philippe Van Snick employed a rigorous yet poetic visual language, using binary logic, mathematical structures, and rhythms in nature to explore perception, time, and space. At the core of his oeuvre was a decimal system (0–9) paired with a distinctive ten-colour palette—red, yellow, blue, orange, violet, green, white, black, gold, and silver—through which he systematically examined the dualities of day and night, presence and absence, stability and instability.

At first, this aesthetic ‘alphabet’ might appear restricted and formal, given its self-imposed nature. However, Van Snick’s works can be considered like a spiral, unfolding and transcending beyond one-dimensional meanings, a form of experimentation akin to the arbitrary nature of life.

Van Snick’s system developed a mode of creativity that continuously renewed, much like the world he attempted to make sense of. This dynamic approach created a visual language that connected everyday experiences with universal concerns.

This upcoming exhibition highlights key works spanning decades of his career, including works from the Dix Jours / Dix Nuits series (1985), pieces that are considered the Genises of his rhythmic study of colour and time, Allies 1 and Allies 2 (2012), diptychs that explore subtle shifts in perception; and Symmetrische – Asymmetrische reeks op paneel (groen) (1988), a large-scale meditation on the symmetric and asymmetric.

For Van Snick, art was a vehicle to explore the intrinsic instability of systems: chance eclipses order and emotions outweigh rationality.

+ Days + Nights at Elizabeth Xi Bauer is the first time Philippe Van Snick’s work has been exhibited in London since the group exhibitions Frequent Long Walks – A Proposition by Christopher Green at Hannah Barry Gallery in 2016 and The Gap: Selected Abstract Art from Belgium, a group exhibition at Parasol Unit, in 2015, curated by Luc Tuymans.

In their work, Kritzman and Van Snick make it their mission to explore and express the complex interplay between their life experiences and unique artistic languages. Rather than focusing on a singular investigation, these languages are interwoven throughout their works, forming a continuous thread that evolves over time.

By rejecting rigid structures and predefined narratives, both artists embrace the tension between their artistic vocabularies and the fluid nature of perception. They present a framework—a starting point— that is intentionally open-ended, allowing for multiple interpretations. The viewer is invited to witness a dialogue between two dynamic systems of meaning, constantly shifting with time, space, and context. This exhibition at Elizabeth Xi Bauer provides a new context for this ongoing exploration, examining how contemporary abstraction can expand the possibilities of meaning and association. Far from isolating or rejecting, it encourages a post-symbolist approach that invites fluid interpretation and connection.

Ultimately, both artists challenge viewers to reconsider unseen patterns that shape their worlds and the viewer’s experiences —not as fixed, rigid systems but as fluid, ever-evolving structures that invite constant reexamination.

Notes to Editors

Abraham Kritzman (born in 1983 in Rehovot, Israel) lives and works between Israel and the UK.

Kritzman studied at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design and then received an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art in 2014. He won the Clore Prize and Scholarship and the Villiers David Travel Award in 2013. Kritzman is currently a Tutor at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design.

Kritzman has received several awards and scholarships and has exhibited throughout Europe and Israel. The artist has previously been awarded the Minister of Culture Prize for Emerging Artists, the Hermann Struck Prize for Printmaking, the Clore-Bezalel Scholarship for MA at the Royal College of Art, the Aileen Cooper Prize, the Excellence Award for Achievements from the Bezalel Department of Fine Art, and the History and Theory Excellence Award from Bezalel Academy.

In 2022, the Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Israel, acquired Abraham Kritzman’s Sheshet series of six sculptures. Kritzman’s artworks are also in the collections of the Clore Duffield Foundation, London; Royal College of Art Collection, London; the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel; Shay Milaw Collection, Israel; and the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design Collection, Israel.

Kritzman’s work was the prominent feature in two exhibitions supported by Elizabeth Xi Bauer and curated by Àngels Miralda: Marine Lover: Wax and Water and Marine Lover: Snakes and Metal, both in 2022. The former featured works by Abraham Kritzman and Violeta Paez Armando at Sally’s Fault, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The latter, held at Bradwolff Projects, Amsterdam, included Kritzman’s work alongside Marlene Dumas, Violeta Paez Armando, Ulay, and Müge Yilmaz. In February 2024, Kritzman exhibited alongside Daniel Silver at Elizabeth Xi Bauer, Deptford, London, in the exhibition Choir.

Philippe Van Snick (born 1946 in Ghent, Belgium, died 4th July 2019). Lived and worked in Brussels, Belgium.

Philippe Van Snick studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Art, Ghent, in 1962. His works have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions worldwide since 1966, with his estate continuing his legacy to the present day. Recent exhibitions include Dynamic Project at S.M.A.K., Ghent (2022); Occurrences at Museum for Modern Art Współczesne, Wrocław, Poland (2021); Philippe Van Snick / Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, at Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2015); among others.

Van Snick’s works are also on permanent display in several public spaces across Belgium and The Netherlands, including the University of Antwerp Wilrijk, Antwerp, Belgium. Since 1971, Van Snick’s work has been highlighted in several publications, including Philippe Van Snick: Toronto Asymmetric Orange, by Walter Klepac, Art Gallery of York University, and Yves Gevaert Publisher on the occasion of his solo exhibition AGYU at Art Gallery of York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1999. Recent publications include Philippe Van Snick – The Project by Philippe Van Snick, Marijke Dekeukeleire, Inge Ketelers, and S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium.

In 2024, Philippe Van Snick’s estate donated the first part of his archive to the Ghent University Library. The complete Philippe Van Snick archive consists of authentic visual material, including documentary photos, slides, contact sheets, and documentary material, including correspondence, press, design sketches, study materials, and exhibition documentation, on both paper and digital carriers. The archive documents his entire artistic career, which dates from 1968 to 2019.

Van Snick’s works were presented among Artisti (delle Fiandra), Artists (from Flanders), at the Palazzo Sagredo, in the summer of 1990 in Venice, Italy. In 1999, Trattenendosi, presented, Van Snick’s works, among other artists, in the Antiche Granai Venezia.

Collected by several private collections across the United States, Europe, and South America, Van Snick’s works are also included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, US; Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto, Portugal; Mu.ZEE, Museum by the Sea for Belgian Art, Ostend, Belgium; Middelheimmuseum, Antwerp, Belgium; M HKA, Museum for Contemporary Art, Antwerp; S.M.A.K., the Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art, Ghent; BNP Paribas, Ghent; Collection of National Bank of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium; Belgacom Foundation, Brussels; Cera Art Collection, Leuven, Belgium; Collectie Vedute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and the Collection Frac Nord Pas de Calais, Dunkirk, France.

This upcoming exhibition at Elizabeth Xi Bauer is the first exhibition of Philippe Van Snick’s works in the United Kingdom since his passing in 2019.

+ Days + Nights will run from 11th April – 8th June 2025, at Elizabeth Xi Bauer’s Exmouth Market location, open Wednesday through to Saturday, 12 – 6 pm or by appointment. A Private View will be held on 10th April 2025, 6 – 8 pm. Abraham Kritzman and the Philippe Van Snick Estate will be available for interviews.

This exhibition will be part of London Gallery Weekend 2025 edition (6th – 8th June). As part of this, Elizabeth Xi Bauer will present a panel discussion at the Exmouth Market space in June 2025, open to the public. https://londongalleryweekend.art/

This exhibition has been conceived courtesy of the Philippe Van Snick Estate and Martins & Montero.

Gallery locations:
Exmouth Market: 20-22 Exmouth Market, London, EC1R 4QE