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The practice of Gijs Milius covers drawings and paintings, as well as video, temporary installations, and audio works. Many of his works focus on meeting and exchanging ideas, although the final form of the work can be very diverse. In 2015, Gijs Milius made a series of large portraits of people with whom he regularly exchanges ideas about his own work. In 2016, he set up an intervention in the basement of the Brussels art space Etablissement d’en Face, where he presented six ceramic ashtrays – each with its own user. The six – paid – smokers worked in shifts so that during the two-day performance at least three people were present to sit, talk and smoke.

Milius is also particularly interested in the interaction between a figure and its surroundings. This interaction could take the form of our daily relationship to our city, as well as being a spectator in an exhibition space, or the characters in his works and the imaginary space in which they find themselves. This idea again results in very diverse works, ranging from temporary installations in the urban public space, to strange sculptures in exhibition contexts, to drawings in oil pastels of landscapes and chambers – sometimes featuring characters who seem to be painfully aware of the unnatural nature of their surroundings. Indeed, although these drawings are particularly attractive in their use of colour and formal visual language, they always radiate a certain unease. There seems to be some undefined twist that inevitably makes the spectator uncomfortable.