A new gallery has joined the Brussels art scene, with Ars Belga – Matthu – Boghossian opening at 2 Rue Saint-Georges with an inaugural exhibition bringing together Piero Dorazio and Charles Pollock.
Located in the heart of the Saint-Georges neighbourhood, next door to Xavier Hufkens, the new space launches as Brussels begins its 2026 art season. Its opening exhibition uses a friendship that began in Rome during the early 1960s to establish a programme built around connections between artists, generations and movements.
The opening also represents a commitment to maintaining a physical gallery at a moment when the economics of doing so are increasingly challenging.
“It’s important for me to fully engage with the Brussels art scene, to move beyond the traditional office model to open myself up more to the public, and to fully embrace the decision to open a gallery, even in the current climate,”
said Vincent Mathu.
Ars Belga specialises in postwar and contemporary art, with a particular focus on Belgian Surrealism, postwar and contemporary Korean art, kinetic art and Op Art, Brazilian self-taught art, alongside American and European conceptual and minimalist art.
Central to the gallery’s approach is the idea of rediscovery: bringing renewed attention to artists and works that have remained on the margins of established art-historical narratives and encouraging their reassessment by collectors, institutions and the public.
A friendship born in Rome
That approach begins with Piero Dorazio and Charles Pollock, two artists connected by a friendship that lasted for almost three decades.
The pair met in Rome in the early 1960s after Pollock arrived in the city with his wife, Sylvia, for a sabbatical year. On the advice of critic Clement Greenberg, he contacted several prominent figures in the Italian art scene, including Dorazio. The encounter became the beginning of a long friendship.
Dorazio (1927–2005), a key figure in postwar Italian abstraction, developed a distinctive practice rooted in colour, light and rhythm, with densely constructed chromatic compositions that occupy a particular place in the history of European abstraction.
Charles Pollock — the older brother of Jackson Pollock — taught design at Michigan State University before turning fully towards abstraction. He went on to create the Chapala series before moving to Europe, first to Rome and later Paris.
The exhibition also arrives as the Archivio Piero Dorazio prepares the artist’s catalogue raisonné amid renewed scholarly interest in his work. Dorazio is represented in major international collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Tate in London and Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Beyond its exhibition programme, Ars Belga will participate in international art fairs including Abu Dhabi Art, Art Genève and BRAFA, while also offering advisory services to private collectors, artists and family estates covering the building and management of collections and the preservation of artistic legacies.
For a new gallery entering a far from straightforward art market, beginning with two artists whose relationship crossed countries and different histories of abstraction feels like a considered way to introduce itself.
Piero Dorazio & Charles Pollock, Ars Belga, 2 Rue Saint-Georges, Brussels. Art Season 2026.
