The Starrett-Lehigh Building
601 W 26th Street, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10001
(Enter on 11th Avenue)
Wednesday, May 7, 4–7pm
Thursday, May 8, 11am–7pm
Friday, May 9, 11am–7pm
Saturday, May 10, 11am–7pm
Sunday, May 11, 11am–5pm
PRESS
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'Sculptures Steal the Spotlight at NADA New York’ by Maya Pontone for 'Hyperallergic', May 9, 2025
'The secrets are out at Nada New York’ by Torey Akers for 'The Art Newspaper', May 9, 2025
´Curators’Picks: New York Art Week - for sale on Artsy’ by Artsy
PRESS RELEASE
For our fourth presentation at NADA New York we are pleased to present a duo booth by Charles Degeyter (BE, 1994) and Mae Dessauvage (BE/US, 1995). Both artists complicate historical imagery through popular media and personal narratives. In Degeyter’s work, this theme is present through the influence of toy aesthetics and references to his childhood memories. Similarly, Dessauvage draws inspiration from manga and her personal transgender experience.
Through her shaped paintings of lonely figures, Dessauvage’s work re-interprets the relationship between the body and the architectural frame. Inspired by medieval and early-Renaissance painting, her house-like panels evoke the architectural silhouettes of altarpieces, reliquaries, and icons. Conceived as manga-like narratives, her paintings unfold across space, akin to frescoes in a church interior. However, her work departs from the sacredness of its historical references to embrace the bodily and the intimate. Her ambiguous figures, often androgynous and cartoon-like, stand in stark contrast to the didactic portrayals of saints in medieval art. These feminine figures appear fluid and fragile, frequently expressing hesitation and uncertainty toward their environments. For this series, presented at NADA New York, the artist focuses on the idea of the “doll” as both icon and stand-in for the transfeminine experience. “Doll,” a common term of endearment among trans women, alludes simultaneously to bodily transformation and societal objectification. In Dessauvage’s paintings, the “dolls” also draw from both medieval devotional statues and anime figurines. In this ambiguity of meaning, Dessauvage’s intimate works reflect the uncertainties she navigates around art history and gender.
Degeyter’s work explores the interplay between anthropology, natural history, and popular culture, often blurring the boundaries between these domains. For this series, presented at NADA, he envisions an imaginary world where crustaceans overrun fragments of his personal memories—rendered in the form of toys and artifacts. At the center of the installation is a depiction of his father’s former home in southern France, where Degeyter spent his childhood summers. Rather than a faithful, precise representation, the house appears as a sinking, abstracted ruin, evoking the instability of memory. Surrounding the house are artifacts that reference his encounters with the important characters related to the place — family, childhood pets, wildlife, masks, among others—shaped by his fascination with non-Western sculptural traditions. These artifacts are overtaken by crustaceans, which in turn inhabit the forsaken architecture. Rendered as a scaled-down city populated by these characters, the installation evokes the logic of playsets. Here, the toy is not only an object but a stage, functioning as an active site for the construction and performance of narrative.
This presentation places the works of Degeyter and Dessauvage in one dialogue surrounding history -- their works speak to each other on iconicity, on memory, and on the sacred. Nevertheless, each body of work is wholly unique in its visual language, technique, and narrative. Both artists engage with history not as a fixed repository of references but as a dynamic framework—a structure upon which they project their personal perspectives and inquiries.
Mae Dessauvage (BE/US, 1995) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, NY and Brussels, Belgium. Dessauvage received her Bachelor’s degree from Columbia University in 2017 and her Master in Architecture from Harvard University in 2021. Her work depicts intimate scenes based on iconography and her personal transgender experience. Drawing parallels between medieval painting, postmodern architecture and contemporary comics, she re-defines their visual languages to create new psychological narratives. Dessauvage’s work has been in group shows recently at S.M.A.K. Museum (BE), Tiger Strikes Asteroid (US), TATJANA PIETERS (BE), Eleventh Hour Art (US), and Kirkland Gallery (US). She has been an artist in residence at Trestle Gallery (Brooklyn, NY) and PADA studios (Lisbon, PT) and The Green Corridor (Brussels, BE). Recent solo shows include “Oh, The Ripe Air!” at TATJANA PIETERS, Ghent (BE) and “The Sleeping Hermaphrodite” at The Green Corridor, Brussels (BE).
Charles Degeyter (BE, 1994) lives and works in Ghent (BE). He studied Industrial Design at the University of Ghent (BE). In 2024 Degeyter has been in groupshows at GUM, Ghent (BE), de Uitstalling, Genk (BE) Artbeat Gallery, Tbilisi (GE), 38CC, Delft (NL), De Warande, Turnhout (BE). Selected exhibitions include ‘Death Bloom’, NADA, Miami (USA), ‘Finis Terrae’, organised by Geukens & De Vil, Antwerp (BE), ‘the Crawling Space’, Tatjana Pieters, Ghent (BE), ‘Going Down’, Northern-Southern, Austin (US), ‘Kunstenfestival LOSS’, SABK, Zottegem (BE), Sint- Baafs Cathedral, Ghent (BE), ‘PASS’ curated by Kris Martin & Jan Hoet jr., Vlaamse Ardennen (BE), Verbeke Foundation, Kemzeke (BE) and ‘No Pop No Up’ by Jan Hoet jr., Ghent (BE).
Our presentation at NADA NY 2025 is generously supported by Flanders Investment & Trade / Flanders State of the Art.