Mendes Wood DM in Brussels presents 'A Serene Look upon the World,' a group exhibition running from 22 April to 30 May 2026. The show features 22 artists including Lucas Arruda, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Lee Ufan, and Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, whose works explore the sublime as a tension between permanence and transformation. The exhibition juxtaposes painting, photography, sculpture, and mixed media to evoke moments of pause before the overwhelming, drawing on philosophical ideas from Longinus and Kant.
The exhibition matters because it brings together a diverse international roster of established and emerging artists to examine the sublime—a historically Western aesthetic category—through contemporary and cross-cultural lenses. By pairing artists like the Brazilian painter Lucas Arruda with Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto and Korean sculptor Lee Ufan, the show creates a dialogue about how art can both comfort and unsettle, offering viewers a space for introspection amid an accelerating world. It reflects ongoing curatorial interest in reinterpreting classical concepts through global contemporary practice.