CRACK by Werner Bronkhorst: Dubai Exhibition Preview

CRACK, Werner Bronkhorst’s eighth collection, explores landscapes under pressure across a four-room exhibition

Making its global premiere in Dubai, the exhibition unfolds across imagined terrains, including clay courts, deserts, salt flats and dreamlike horizons, each rendered through Werner’s distinctive sculptural texture and miniature figures.

Image courtesy of CRACK Exhibition by Werner Bronkhorst

CRACK began with Bronkhorst’s fascination with what happens to landscapes under pressure: how they split, absorb, mark, or hold memory.

A “crack” can be a sound, a break, a sign of tension or a moment of release and for Werner, it became a starting point for exploring places shaped by heat, force, sport and habit.

The exhibition unfolds across four atmospheric rooms, each gathering works around a different kind of terrain. Visitors move from salt lakes and beaches, into desert expanses and clay and hard courts, experiencing works that capture impact, rhythm and childhood play. What unites all four rooms is Werner’s warm, muted palette and his ability to turn a single colour field into an entire world.

“CRACK started with me staring at the ground. Clay courts, dunes, salt pools, boxing rings, places that crack and shift but still hold us. I wanted to build little worlds on top of them. Tiny figures, big feelings, quiet jokes, people going through it or just lying in the sun. It’s a collection about tension and softness, breaking and holding, and how much story can fit inside one brushstroke,” says Werner.

Key works include Let’s Clay, which set the palette for the entire collection with its clay-court-inspired surface; Yeehaw, which transforms the motion and sound of a cracking whip into a playful composition; and Caravan Life, a cinematic desert scene where camels cross intense orange dunes. Other standout works such as Horseplay, Ballin’ and Country Road explore movement, nostalgia and rhythm through sport and travel.

The centrepiece of the exhibition, The Pilgrimage, spans seven panels and traces the journey of a family moving through deep red and burgundy dunes. Despite its scale, the work carries an intimate quality, reflecting both personal and collective passage. Together, the works in CRACK mark Bronkhorst’s most ambitious and interconnected series to date, signalling a defining moment in his practice.

When is CRACK exhibition on view?

CRACK will be presented from 16 to 18 January 2026. Selected artworks will be available for purchase exclusively through the artist’s website from 18 January 2026.