Collision & Déliquescence

Carlotta Bailly-Borg

Schilderij van twee witte, spook-achtige figuren op een zwart en rode achtergrond, schijnbaar fysiek verbonden, liggend op de vloer, hun gezichten wegkijkend van elkaar. Painting of two white ghost-like figures on a black and red background, seemingly attached physically, lying on the floor, faces facing away from each other.
Carlotta Bailly-Borg — Déliquescence detail Courtesy of the artist

‘Within these sceneries, desire dances among interstices, as a tension that both enmeshes and divides fleshed and entangled beings.’
- Carolina Ongaro

In two large-scale paintings created especially for this exhibition, French born-Belgian based artist Carlotta Bailly-Borg presents two bodies that are intertwined, squeezed together, twisting and turning in space. These elastic, anthropomorphic figures are part of a universe Bailly-Borg unfolds throughout her oeuvre in absurd and intimate scenes that are always at the same time infused with playfulness and humour.

In both paintings a tension between tenderness and discomfort is discernable. They reveal an attempt at connection, yet also the impossibility of complete fusion. The figures balance between shelter and friction, intimacy and grotesque distortion. They can be read as metaphors for human relationships, emotions, and desires, and the complexity they entail.

Collision, 2026, Acrylic, charcoal, pastel on canvas, 200 x 190 cm
Déliquescence, 2026, Acrylic, charcoal, pastel on canvas, 200 x 150 cm
Courtesy of the artist.
Commissioned by STUK, House for Dance, Image & Sound in the context of Grind Grind Grind, Release. An Exhibition as a Massage.
Zwartwitfoto van een vrouw die tegen een witte muur zit op een stapel planken. Ze draagt een lange zwarte jas, zwarte broek en gestreepte trui, en kijkt met een lichte doch vrolijke frons in de camera. Monochrome portrait of a woman sitting on a stack of planks, her back leaning against a white wall. She wears a long black coat, black pants and a striped sweater, and looks straight into the camera with a slightly amused frown.

Carlotta Bailly-Borg
°1984, Paris, France

Carlotta Bailly-Borg is an artist working across a wide range of media, including painting, ceramics, glass, fresco, and drawing. Her works are infused with references to both art history and popular culture. She draws inspiration from many sources, such as medieval manuscripts, Hindu and Greek mythology, and Japanese erotic scenes. Bringing these diverse inspirations together, Bailly-Borg constructs a universe of her own; a fictional world inhabited by anthropomorphic beings attempting to relate to one another and to the spaces around them.

Bailly-Borg has exhibited in numerous venues internationally. In spring 2025, her solo exhibition Sea Foam Shame took place at Ruttkowski;68 in New York, and she created work for the five flagpoles on the museum square between MSK and S.M.A.K. in Ghent. She has also held solo exhibitions at Etablissement d’en face in Brussels; Beursschouwburg, Brussels; Ballon Rouge Collective, Brussels; VITRINE Gallery, Basel; and Bosse & Baum, London. Her work has been included in many group exhibitions as well. Last year, it was shown in the retrospective Painting After Painting at S.M.A.K. in Ghent. She has also exhibited at FRAC Ile-de-France, Paris; Netwerk, Aalst; Fondation Ricard, Paris; Fondation Van Gogh, Arles; South London Gallery, London; Palais de Tokyo, Paris.

Bailly-Borg received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the École Nationale Supérieure d’Arts de Paris-Cergy, France. She lives and works in Brussels.

Photo: Carlotta Bailly-Borg © Charlotte vander Borgh