About

Linda at work

Linda Coppens is a Belgian abstract painter whose work explores gesture, rhythm, and the evolving relationship between movement and restraint. Her paintings emerge through an intuitive process, where marks are applied, interrupted, and allowed to remain visible as traces of action on the surface. 
Earlier works often developed through layering and accumulation, building density through sustained movement. More recent paintings shift toward a more reduced and deliberate approach, where the process is interrupted and the work is held in a state of suspension.

Across both bodies of work, her practice is concerned with how a painting can remain open — balancing structure and release, and allowing tension to exist without resolution.

Artist statement

My work develops through gesture, and through attention to how a painting comes into being over time. Rather than working toward a finished image, I am interested in moments where the process is interrupted — where marks remain visible, uneven, or unresolved.

I often stop a painting before it settles. This allows the surface to retain a sense of immediacy, where gestures are still active and the composition remains open. Some areas gather weight and density, while others stay light or incomplete, creating a tension between presence and absence.

What interests me is how a painting can hold together without resolving — how movement, hesitation, and interruption can coexist on the surface.

Collections

Works held in private collections in USA, UK, France, The Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Spain, and Portugal.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2017 - Linéair, Dilbeek (Belgium)
2016 - A visual Conversation, Asse (Belgium)
2013 - Espace Art Gallery, Brussels (Belgium)
2013 - Gallery Artstudio, Knokke (Belgium)

Selected Group Exhibitions

2025
DISLOCATIONS : GAP Artists Books / FRAG  Exchange Project (California USA)

2024
Colors' emotions (Bassano del Grappa, Italy)
Gender GAP II (San Ramon Art Center, California USA)
Crossing Borders (Westbeth Gallery, NYC USA)

2023
Distance & Nearness ( Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Love explodes in red (Margian gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Frags & Flarden (Galerij Artisjok, Lier, Belgium)
Moclin Arte (Granada, Spain)

Earlier exhibitions include exhibitions in New York, Madrid, Dakar, Luxembourg, and Belgium.