Hunters at Dawn (Quadryptich, +/- 180×450 cm, pencil, charcoal, acrylic, leaves and oil on canvas, 2026.
‘The quadriptych Hunters at Dawn unfolds at the threshold between night and day, dream and reality. Instead of a threatening forest, Elshout presents a luminous birchgrove. Turquoise and vivid neon pink dissolve naturalistic space, creating an atmosphere that is at once poetic and unsettling.
Two rabbit masked figures appear almost playful. Only gradually does a small hare hanging from a string shift the meaning of the painting, exposing themes of vulnerability, control and violence beneath its lyrical surface.
The neon pink is far more than an expressive colour. As the artist has explained, it refers to the artificial world humanity has created. Flowing through the forest floor, it
becomes a metaphor for contemporary ecological imbalance. Hunters at Dawn does not retell a fairy tale; it asks why fairy tale imagery continues to shape the way we understand the world. Elshout’s paintings resist definitive interpretation, inviting slow looking and repeated encounters.’
Janine Bean gallery, 2026.
