On Curtain (2021) a spot on a pink curtain reflects an obscure light source. The painting is also expressive of absence, therefore, which is another characteristic of Van Bossche’s oeuvre. In recent years, the curtain has been a recurrent motif in his work. In this painting, it specifically refers to the ventriloquist, another theme to which he repeatedly returns. Here, Van Bossche hides the ventriloquist behind a curtain, thereby alluding to the way in which freedom of expression (primarily within journalism, but by extension for us all) is increasingly threatened.
