Atelier Jespers

L’Atelier Jespers a accueilli des grands noms du design tels que Domeau & Peres, Michael Anastasiades ou encore le duo d’architecte Berger & Berger. Dans le cadre de Design september et d’Art Brussels, évènements majeurs de la scène culturelle belge, l’Atelier a à cœur de proposer des expositions éxigeantes et nourissantes pour les visiteurs. Il a ainsi su s’imposer comme lieu incontournable des programmations artistiques bruxelloises. L’écrin de la maison moderniste crée en 1928 par Victor Bourgeois, membre du CIAM et premier professeur de l’atelier d’arcitecture de La Cambre, donne à l’Atelier Jespers, l’ancrage historique et esthétique dont les expositions ont besoin pour rendre les exceptionnelles. L’ambiguité voulue de la maison/atelier stimule parfaitement les désirs des créateurs et confère aux évènements organisés à l’Atelier Jespers à la fois un côté intime dans un cadre publique.

#itinerance

Après 2 années d’activités intenses, Jean-François Declercq décide en 2017 de créer #itinérance afin de proposer sa programmation à des lieux, des évènements et des foires partout en Europe. C’est ainsi que le projet commence à capter l’attention de la presse internationale. Le projet a déjà notamment participé à 5 foires depuis sa création, Paris (Design Elysées 2017 & 2018), Bruxelles (COLLECTIBLE 2018), Milan (MiArt 2018), Cômes (Lake Como Design Faire 2018) et Beyrouth (Beirut Design Fair 2018). Lors de sa première curation « hors les murs » en janvier 2018, Il a présenté pas loin de 26 designers belges dans le prestigieux Palais des Beaux-Arts Bruxellois BOZAR, et en mai de la même année, il co-produit avec le Ceramiste Frederick Gautier l’exposition « Tokonoma project » au sein du bâtiment d’Oscar Niemeyer au siège du parti communiste Français.

6+2 Edition

Dans le cadre de sa nouvelle activité d’édition d’objets 6+2 Edition, Jean-François Declercq collabore avec le designer Bruxellois Alain Berteau et présente en exclusivité le vase « Remparts » à la première exposition majeure consacrée au design contemporain Belge à KANAL Pompidou Bruxelles.

Artistes & designers

Michael Anastasiades, Alain Berteau, Berger & Berger, Pierre Bonnefille, David Boussier, Nicolas Brevers, Casimir, Pierre-Laurent Cassiére, Pierre Coddenz, Daviet-Thery, Maarten de Ceulaer, Frederik Delbart, Destroyers & Builders , Nathalie Dewez, Domeau & Pérès, Frederick Gautier , Damien Gernay, Kaspar Hamacher, Jean-François Jaussaud , Benjamin Loyauté, Gerard Kuijpers, Tim Onderbeke, Frederic Pellenq, Rooms Design, Adrien Rovero, Studio Krjst , Nicolas Schuybroek, Bela Silva, Vladimir Slavov, Ben Storms, Maarten Stuer, Conrad Willems, ...

Johan Viladrich solo show x Collectible fair week-end
From 27/05 till 30/07/21 upon reservation only,
to register please click on the link below
https://calendly.com/atelierjespers/johan-viladrich-solo-show

Atelier Jespers is excited to announce the solo show of the French designer Johan Viladrich during the online edition of Collectible Week 2021, from May 27th. The curator Jean-François Declercq will showcase the latest series of conceptual furniture by the Rotterdam-based designer.

Its founder and curator Jean-François Declercq is selecting established designers, artists and emerging talents and is presenting iconic as well as unique furniture, artworks and prototypes made in close collaboration with galleries at the forefront of the Brussels scene such as Fracas Gallery, as well as international design schools, institutions and museums, some for the first time.

For the show, he conceived a house-like situation to give the perception of liveable spaces. On the ground floor, aluminium profiles bolted together recreate a fireplace around which a fibreglass bench and a bronze mirror suggest the idea of the living room. Upstairs, a curved display shelf in polyamide and a steel console highlight the circular shape of the modernist house of Atelier Jespers. In another room, a low bronze bench and a side table next to an aluminium bed frame characterize what is to be perceived as the bedroom. The rooftop terrasse has also been ‘occupied’ by the designer and turned into a recreation ground with a ping-pong table conceived for the show.

These sculptural objects are assembled with visible systems and designed to allow for every piece to be easily disassembled. The design of the objects originates from the norms of the industrial material itself rather than being based on classical human measurements.

Polyamide plates, aluminium profiles, stainless steel tubes, glass fibre, and bronze profiles are used in various ways to create functional structures. All materials express their purest essence and each structure is reduced to an absolute minimum. The absence of colour treatment reveals the natural colour of each material.

“Using the norms, rules and standards of mass production generated a new typology of objects, functional but at the very edge of inadequacy. These non-user centered pieces shift away from traditional commercial and consumerist values to favour a rational living. They neglect ergonomics and classical notions of comfort to enable the development of new parameters for furniture and object designs, parameters that make productivity, timelessness, and transparency not just added values but primary necessities.”

Johan is currently working with several design galleries and art institutions across Europe. He also collaborates with fashion and design brands for the design of retail spaces and temporary installations.

He holds a BA from Man & Well-Being department at Design Academy Eindhoven (2012—2017, Cum Laude) and a BA in Product and Industrial Design from ENSAAMA in Paris (2010-2012). His work has been exhibited at ToolsGalerie (Paris), Nilufar Depot (Milan), Design Miami/Basel (Basel), Eleven Steens (Brussels), Collectible (Brussels).

Opening Aréa 42 Design Space x Collectible fair week-end
Atelier Jespers announce the opening of Area 42 Design Space.
The only permanent space for contemporary design.
29/05 & 30/05/21 upon reservation only, to register please click on the link below
https://calendly.com/atelierjespers/area-42-design-space

Come and discover our exclusive preview during the week of COLLECTIBLE SALON from May 26th to the 30th!

Its founder and curator Jean-François Declercq is selecting established designers, artists and emerging talents and is presenting iconic as well as unique furniture, artworks and prototypes made in close collaboration with galleries at the forefront of the Brussels scene such as Fracas Gallery, as well as international design schools, institutions and museums, some for the first time.

Brussels is unlike any other creative cities.

Its diverse and unique artistic density, dynamic and production is respected and has been sought after globally despite the support of public structures.⠀⠀

Annual exhibitions at Area 42 design Space are aiming to give support to the greatest designers, makers and artists of today.⠀⠀

The venue has been chosen for its exceptional character.
Building of the former RTT (Régie du Téléphone et du Télégraphe), conceived by Michel Polak—architect of Brussels’ renowned Villa Empain and Résidence Palace, it is dating from 1937 and located a few steps from Botanique and the LUCA School of Arts.
This former parking of 2,400 m2 which has been renovated is now offering an 500 m2 unpolished architectural space of white granito floor and curved concrete columns to freely host and exhibitions, events and workshops.
A hundred of parking slots day are made available day and night.

Area 42 is showcasing works by:

Abel Jallais (FR), Alain Berteau (BE), Anthony Guerrée (FR), Bram Kerkhofs (BE), Bram Vanderbeke (BE), Ben Storms (BE), BOU-GE (FR), Casimir Studio (BE), Célia & Hannes (AUT/FR), Christy Cole (SCT), Claire Lézier (FR), Clement Brazzile (CH), Conrad Willems (BE), Damian O’sullivan (FR), Damien Gernay (FR), David Umemoto (CAN), Eléonore Joulin (FR), Elise Peroi (FR), Estelle Saignes (FR), Estudio Ries (ARG), François-Xavier Poulailon (FR), Gerard Kuijpers (BE), Giuseppe Arezzi (IT),Koen Van Guijze (BE), Inessa Hansch (FR), Jimmy Beyens (BE), Laurence Humier (BE), Laur Meyrieux (FR), Léa Munsch (FR), Lou Van’t Riet (BE), Marc Baroud (LIB), Maxence de Bagneux (FR), Mira Sohlén (SE), Nicolas Erauw (BE), Noro Khachatrian (BE), Pascal Risbourg (FR), Pedro Galdon (ESP), Pierre Coddens (BE), Pierre-Emmanuel Vandeputte (BE), Pierre-Louis Graizon (FR), Pol Quadens (BE), Raw Material (IND), Rikkert Paauw (NL), Sébastien Caporusso (BE), Stand van Zakken (BE), Studio Biskt (BE), Studio Corkinho (BE), Studio élémentaire (FR), Studio KRJST (BE), Thomas Serruys (BE), Tim Onderbeke (BE), Tim Vranken (BE) and Zigmund Pront (BE).

Prelude’s Art&Design exhibition
from 3 April to 23 May 2021
every Thursday to Monday and from 1pm to 6pm
Vlaanderenstraat 25 in Ghent

Atelier Jespers is proud to be part of Prelude’s selection with the work of Eleonore Joulin

PRELUDE, an exhibition organized by Belgian Art & Design Fair.⠀
The exhibition is curated by Stefanie Everaert & Caroline Lateur, doorzon interieurarchitecten, architect Theo De Meyer, Tatjana Pieters and guest curator Christophe Urbain.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

We would like to personally welcome you from 3 April to 23 May 2021, every Thursday to Monday and from 1pm to 6pm at Vlaanderenstraat 25 in Ghent.

It goes without saying that we are fully compliant with the coronavirus rules in force. ⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Therefore you can now book your time slot on ba-df.be⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

We hope to see you there!⠀⠀

Artview Space virtual fair second edition
VIP Opening: April 21
Public Opening: April 22 - 25
Register on https://space.artview.fr
Visit ArtView : https://space.artview.fr/atelier-jespers/

Atelier Jespers is Proud to showcasing works by: Pierre Bonnefille (BE) – Sébastien Caporousso (BE) – Jean Grisoni (FR) & Anthony Guerrée (FR) during to the second edition of Artview Space.

Artview Space is a beautiful, handcrafted Parisian apartment in which 10 galleries renowned in their field will be given free rein.

This unprecedented exhibition will showcase more than 50 selected and exclusive pieces in situ. We are delighted to invite you on this artistic journey filled with unique aesthetic combinations. The resulting experience is an inspiring dialogue between Design, Tribal , Asian, Ancient, Modern & Contemporary art.

Les assises du temps perdu
01/02 – 12/02/21
Monday to Friday 10:00 - 18:00
Saturday 06 /02 11:00 - 18:00
Sunday 07/02 closed
Cornette de St Cyr
Avenue Hoche, 6
75008 Paris

Atelier Jespers is pleased to announce the exhibition "Les Assises du Temps Perdu", an original composition conceived by the designer Anthony Guerrée. Through a series of sculptural chairs, the French designer highlights the protagonists of Marcel Proust's famous novel À la recherche du temps perdu. Curated by Brussels gallery owner Jean-François Declercq with the partnership of Cornette de Saint-Cyr, the exhibition will be on view in the private mansion of the auction house from February 1 to 12, 2021.

“I’ve read Proust, and I wanted to keep a trace of it by giving the characters a real place in space, by giving them a seat.” Through a series of sculptural chairs, the French designer materializes the protagonists of Marcel Proust’s famous novel In Search of Lost Time. Proustian literature abounds of decorative arts references to embody the characters, so Anthony Guerrée wanted to “chair” the features and the attitudes of Vinteuil, Verdurin, Albertine, Elstir, Swann, Odette, Charlus and Saint-Loup with a wide range of expressive materials, graphic forms and singular textures.

He designed an atypical scenography in the grand salon of the mansion, where the sculptural chairs seem to dialogue with each other from the top of their podiums. A setting that invites the visitor to meet these "chair-characters", illustrated with a citation from the novel dedicated to them. This sumptuous display evokes Proust's youth in the family home located nearby, also close to Parc Monceau, where one can easily imagine the protagonists wandering in the surroundings. A romanesque scenery that plunges us right away into the Proustian universe.

The publishing house, as well the French literary review, Bouclard has launched exclusively "Les Assises du Temps Perdu" by Anthony Guerrée in a limited editions in their collection "L'officine, cabinet de curiosités littéraires". This special edition is based on the designer's chair drawings, the quotes from Proust that inspired them, research notebooks and texts expressing his vision of the characters. This unique project, at the crossroads of literature and design, will be on display during the exhibition.

Witness by Alexandra Leyre Mein
(OFF Art Brussels 2021 / TBC)
Atelier Jespers, 149 avenue du Prince Héritier 1200 Bruxelles

The curator Jean-François Declercq is delighted to present the solo show ‘Witness’ of the Brussels-based sculptor Alexandra Leyre Mein at Atelier Jespers during the OFF Parcours of Art Brussels Fair 2021.

The Dutch-Belgian artist will reveal a series of penetrating sculptures, exploring the human body and mind, unveiling the beauty and brutality, the ethereal and palpable. With an interpretative approach, she questions the passage of time, memories, dreams, and emotions, shaping live-sized figures directly in Hydrostone, on which she adjoins polished surfaces of recuperated marble, rebar, rust, glass, forming busts, horse legs or tree trunks.

She moulds sensual bodies without faces, powerful faces without bodies, and mysterious masks. To leave the viewer a greater freedom of interpretation she works without preliminary vision of completed sculptures to fully grasp the subconscious part of her mind.

The heads emanate solitude and silence, their polished pristine faces seem to witness our behavior and what will be remembered by history. Other hybrid figures seem bursting out in contorted movements and struggling between movement and stability, sensuality and tensions. By shape and textures, the work seems to originate both from an ancient and a contemporary era.

With a strong autobiographical aspect, the sculptor uses a palette of subtle colours, reminiscent of common minerals or oxidized metals. The unfinished aspect gives the feeling that they are still in the process of emerging or have started to decay, a duality of interpretation distinctive of her work.

Her work is imprinted by the Renaissance sculptor Bernini and his work on movements, as well by the mysticism and power of the Sub-Saharan Africa’s animist tradition. Contorted bodies with visceral and whirling emotions refer to Francis Bacon’s paintings, while sensuality and delicate rawness are inspired by Camille Claudel’s work. The more graphical elements are inspired by the seminal work of Brancusi's contemporaries.

Born in 1979 in Brussels, Alexandra Leyre Mein graduated as a fashion designer at Royal Academy of Antwerp before switching to visual art in 2008. She has been awarded several artist residencies across the world and her work has been shown internationally in Paris at Palais Iéna, in New York at Anton Kern gallery NYC, New House for Contemporary Art, SVA Westside Gallery, in Belgium at Maison Particulière, Botanique and White house gallery, etc. Her sculptures are also part of large private collections such as Belfius Bank collection, Joshua Rechnitz, Servais Family collection, Solages collection, Taittinger collection, etc.

Besides her sculptural practice, she designs sets and costumes for renowned dancers and choreographers among others, Damien Jalet, Erna Omarsdottir and Qudus Onikeku. Her creations have been shown at Louvre in Paris, Melbourne International Festival, Tokyo International Arts Festival, Festival d’Avignon, Palazzo Fortuny.

JEAN CHAUVIN
L’OMBRE ATOMIQUE
From 19/12/20 until 27/03/21 Atelier Jespers, 149 avenue du Prince Héritier 1200 Bruxelles
Book release: 21/01/21
Due to covid visits on reservation only
For reservations: info@atelierjespers.com

On the occasion of the Brussels Photos Festival, Atelier Jespers is pleased to announce its new exhibition “Jean Chauvin – L’OMBRE ATOMIQUE” curated by Tim Onderbeke with the support and collaboration of Victor Guénard.

The exhibition will focus on the photography of the modern artist Jean Chauvin. The photography , exhibited for the first time, sculpts the light that gives a new dimension to the artworks.

Tim Onderbeke collaborates with the Belgian marble mason Van Den Weghe Stones to provide rough stones that highlight the works.

Nearly twenty-five of these photographs along with sculptures from private collections are on loan for the exhibition by Victor Guénard, with the support of Socle, a platform dedicated to projects in culture, creation and digital fields.

Born in 1889 in France, he Jean Chauvin studied at École des Arts Décoratifs then École des Beaux-Arts and attended the workshop of the sculptor Antonin Mercié. He exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants and participated at the stone carving of “Frise de la danse” with Joseph Bernard, before devoting oneself to abstract sculpture. The artist exhibited alongside Brancusi, Arp and Zadkine in the 1950s, and represented France during the Biennale of Venice in 1962.

The exhibition will take place during the Brussels Photos Festival between the 21/01/2021 to 27/03/2021 at Atelier Jespers.

Chauvin the photographer: a “dematerialization” of sculpture?

A survey of Chauvin’s work needs to make room, too, for his activity as a photographer. Starting in the 1920s, Chauvin was jealously careful to photograph his works himself, spending a significant amount of time at the task and taking care to include every one of his sculptures. His interest was not in keeping track of private glimpses of his work or intermediate stages that he deemed useful to record. The sculptures were systematically photographed after their definitive completion. Beyond their documentary value, these glass-plate photographs constitute a precious visual commentary on Chauvin’s esthetic and, we might say, amount to thears poetica that the sculptor never wrote. We do not yet know the precise extent of his photo collection, but the surviving corpus is rich enough to prompt a few remarks.

Chauvin worked against a solid black or white background that accentuated the abstractness in his presentation of the works. There is no picture of the studio, no context situating the work, as is the case of Brancusi, for example; on the contrary, each photograph displays the work itself, stripped of all circumstance. The very base is often partly cut off, so that it acts as a mere accessory to the sculptural form or as a transitional path between the world outside and the work of art.

The framing is generally symmetrical, and there is neither a high-angle nor a low-angle shot, as if the picture were taken by a photographer eager to keep his own personality out of the way. The point of view never depends on the particular object; the sculpture is viewed only from the front or in profile, in keeping with a documentary esthetic. The photographer’s style, his hand, his eye — all the factors that at first glance would project his personality — are supposed to vanish in the interest of displaying the sculpture alone.

The lighting is surely the most striking feature of these pictures. Lighting is well known for being by far the most difficult part of photographing sculptures. Chauvin chose illumination powerful enough to make the art object stand out forcefully and clearly. The whole arrangement is structured by the contrast between dark bronze and light background or between stone or plaster and black background. On the object itself, a subtly balanced play of light and shadow gives clear visibility to small surface details and planar shifts. This delicate proportioning of light and shadow breathes life into a work which is by definition static, and brings into relief the rhythms inherent in the composition. There is nothing there to shock or stun the viewer, no special effect. What stands out is the impression of a sculpture fixed in place for eternity.

The nature of the sculpted work — immaterial and abstract — is thus confirmed, and form emerges in all its timelessness. The metaphysical aspect of Chauvin’s art and his quest for the essential Reality of the world are as fundamental to his photographic activity as to his sculptural ambition. We notice, too, particularly in the case of Le soleil se lève (“The Sun Is Rising”) (cat.68), that lighting can not only serve the reality of form but also contribute to its full actualization: The light radiating from the black disk underscores the solar metaphor at work in the sculpture and contributes to making the piece conform to its title and, thereby, to its very essence. Chauvin’s sculptures reach the ultimate stage of their creation in the gaze that the photographer brings to them: Through the medium of photography, they become pure forms, dematerialized idols.

Extract of “Jean-Chauvin in his time” by Paul-Louis Rinuy
translation by Samuel N. Rosenberg
reproduced by courtesy of Paul Mas

We are pleased to present “Les Assises du Temps Perdu”, an original creation by Anthony Guerrée. Through a series of sculptural chairs, the French designer materializes the protagonists of Marcel Proust's famous novel “In Search of Lost Time”.

The publishing house Bouclard Editions will publish exclusively “Les Assises du Temps Perdu” by Anthony Guerrée. The afterword of the publication is signed by the author Emilie Houssa and the foreword by Jérôme Bastianelli, the President of the Société des Amis de Marcel Proust and Director of the Musée du Quai Branly.

Odette

Atelier Jespers is pleased to present the Odette chair in collaboration with Anthony Guerrée, an original composition by the French designer who has created a series of sculptural chairs Les Assises du Temps Perdu, highlighting the protagonists of Marcel Proust's famous novel À la recherche du temps perdu.

Light on ODETTE Chair. Its floral shape refers to Odette de Crécy's catleya in Marcel Proust's novel. Odette is made of rattan and was developed in partnership with MAISON LOUIS DRUCKER in the pure French rattan tradition.

ODETTE -— bistro chair — Dimensions : 50 x 42 x h 100 cm
Available in 5 Patterns and 6 colors ranges
Made to order with Maison Louis Drucker

Les éditions Bouclard lancent une nouvelle collection. L’Officine: de beaux petits livres à tirage limité, soigneusement imprimés et façonnés, signant leur amour des curiosités littéraires et artistiques.
Le premier volume de cette série est signé Anthony Guerrée: «Les Assises du temps perdu» avec le soutien de l’Atelier Jespers.

À l’été 2013, alors qu’il a un peu de temps à perdre, le designer Anthony Guerrée se découvre proustien. Il imagine alors de dessiner et faire fabriquer des chaises inspirées des personnages de «À la recherche du temps perdu». Ce livre restitue cette quête à travers un carnet de recherches mais aussi une réflexion profonde sur les liens entre la littérature et le design.

Pour la petite histoire, «Les Assises du temps perdu» découle directement d’une rencontre, initiée dans le numéro 2 de la revue Bouclard, entre l’autrice Émilie Houssa et Anthony Guerrée. Émilie en signe donc la postface, les portraitisations, tandis que la préface a été confiée à Jérôme Bastianelli, proustien parmi les proustiens (président de la Société des amis de Marcel Proust et Directeur du Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac).

Cet ouvrage accompagnera, de plus, l’exposition des chaises durant l’année 2021 lors de plusieurs événements design d’envergure (en France et en Europe).

Le livre est au prix de 13€ + frais de port sur le site internet Bouclard et dans les librairies indépendantes.

The French publishing house Bouclard launch «Les assises du temps perdu». The foreword is signed by Jérôme Bastianelli, President of the Société des Amis de Marcel Proust and the postface by Émilie Houssa. English version soon available

ART Elysées Design 2020
22/10 till 26/10/20

Champs Elysées Paris
Proud to be part of the Art Elysées Design fair for the fifth time !
We will present Antony Guerrée’s new project based on Proust
more infos will come soon

Anton Reijnders - DESCARTES’ ERROR III with Fracas Gallery during Brussels Gallery Weekend

Exhibition running from Thursday 03/10/20 until Sunday 18/10/20
Atelier Jespers, 149 avenue du Prince Héritier 1200 Bruxelles
Brussels Gallery Week-end:
Thursday, September 3rd — 11am-9pm
Friday, September 4th — 11am-7pm
Saturday, September 5th — 11am-7pm
Sunday, September 6th — 11am-7pm
By appointment on the other exhibition days

For their second collaboration, Atelier Jespers and F R A C A S are very pleased to present the work of Anton Reijnders, in the former House & Studio of Oscar Jespers built by Victor Bourgeois. More than 30 years of creation will be represented through the exhibition with pieces dating from 1989 to the present day.

This solo exhibition will take place from 25 June to 19 July 2020.

A special project will be presented in the upper part of the exhibition space: ‘Anton’s Offshoots’*, a presentation of emerging contemporary ceramists curated by Anton Reijnders especially for the occasion.

*With works by :

• BUKET KINALIKAYA (TR)
• CLÉMENTINE DUPRÉ (FR)
• CLAIRE LÉZIER (FR)
• COLINE ROSOUX (BE)
• ELENA GILEVA (RU)
• ELISA UBERTI (FR)
• LISA ALLEGRA (ES)
• SARAH PSCHORN (DE)

design Brussels launch event

By appointment only till 04/10/20 / Finissage on Thursday 01/10/20 from 17:00 till 21:00
Area 42 - 46 Rue des Palais 1030 Brussels

Co-founders Jean-François Declercq and Roel Rijssenbeek are pleased to invite you to the press conference of Design Brussels, the new platform for expertise in contemporary design:

Design Brussels offers a permanent curation of Belgian and international designers & makers to promote contemporary design. The platform will focus on sustainable innovation, establish new synergies, and support entrepreneurial initiatives with creative collaborations to make the sector more dynamic and boost its influence on a national and international scale.

With a multidisciplinary approach, Design Brussels represents designers & makers; offers them advice and support; organises annual exhibitions; publishes furniture; handles the commercial aspect; and participates in international fairs and events, including the 15th edition of the Parisian fair Art Élysées Design 2020.

Area 42 will now host exhibitions and other design events throughout the year.

Coming events for 2020 will be announced at the press conference.

Voyage Immobile with Fracas Gallery

20/06 au 26/07 by appointment only
jf@atelierjespers.com

F R A C A S is delighted to occupy a new space, Atelier Jespers, in order to offer you a ‘Voyage Immobile’.

This group exhibition brings together 14 artists presenting eclectic works gathered under a common theme, travel. Each selected piece is a travelogue, evokes a memory, or projects you into a new universe, allowing you, without the need for a long-distance trip, to experience a complete change of scenery filled with joy and colour. We wanted to offer our audience a moment of evasion, following a period of general stasis, facing a summer that promises to offer limited opportunities of escapism and to respond to a future that seems somewhat immobile.

For the first time the F R A C A S gallery presents a painter, Tom Eliott, and all the works exhibited travel between art, design and crafts. Responding also to the location, modernist house and workshop of the sculptor Oscar Jespers, built in 1928 by Victor Bourgeois.

The sequel to this first collaboration with Atelier Jespers is scheduled for September… watch this space!

Artists presented:

• Boris de Beijer (NL)
• Buket Kınalıkaya (TR)
• CAÈS (BE)
• Claire Lézier (FR)
• Elena Gileva (RU)
• Johan Destrumelle (FR)
• Laurids Gallée (AT)
• Milan Pekař (CZ)
• REM atelier (NL)
• Réjean Peytavin (FR)
• Théo Ouaki (FR)
• Thiry Fillatreau (FR)
• Tom Eliott (UK)

SENSITIVE SURFACE by BOU-GE
Exhibition from 5th March until 23rdMarch 2020
Atelier Jespers, 149 avenue du Prince Héritier 1200 Bruxelles

5th & 6th March 2020, 14:00-18:00
7th March, 14:00-18:00 + Late Opening with a Drink 18:00-22:00
8th March 2020, 14:00-18:00
By appointment on the other exhibition days

Atelier Jespers is pleased to announce the exhibition “Sensitive surfaces” by the French artists Bonoure & Genevaux during the OFF Collectible Fair from the 5th of February to the 23rd of of March 2020.

The French architects Guillaume Bounoure and Chloé Genevaux work on the theme of motionless or silent movement to create large polyptychs adapted to the nature and measure of the Atelier Jespers.

They play with light to enhance the beauty of ordinary things, constantly evolving with space and time. In the modernist house-studio of the sculptor Oscar Jespers, built by Victor Bourgeois in 1928, they choose to search for the original shade of the building. “Simple folded sheets evoke the pure and subtle play of volumes assembled under the light, a wink to modernists.”

“From the useful to the useless, there is only one step, but it is like crossing a ravine. Our work deal with space and light, it is a design without utility, without formalism. We look between the folds for what reveals light and shadow as a pictorial material, that's all. Architect-researchers, we were looking to create useful objects that quickly proved unsuitable for their use. Today we are creating unnecessary things and everyone can find meaning in them… It's up to you to see! On folded white surfaces the light clings to it and reveals all the shades of gray. By questioning time and light we give the work an interactive dimension excluding all bulky technology. Without any sense: neither high nor low, neither upside down, nor subject, our sensitive works are only surfaces, a remedy to the over-significance of our time.

For this exhibition in the workshop of the sculptor Oscar Jespers, built in 1928 by the architect Victor Bourgeois, precursor of the modern movement, we chose to search for the original shade of the building. Simple folded sheets evoke the pure and subtle play of volumes assembled under the light, a wink to modernists”

Boug-Ge

COLLECTIBLE FAIR
Collectible Fair
Vanderborght Building Brussels
Rue de l’Ecuyer 50
1000 Brussels

WEDNESDAY 4 TH MARCH from (ON INVITATION ONLY)
THURSDAY 5 TH MARCH from 11:00 to 21:00
FRIDAY 6 TH MARCH from 11:00 to 19:00
SATURDAY 7 TH MARCH from 11:00 to 19:00
SUNDAY 8 TH MARCH from 11:00 to 18:00

Atelier Jespers is pleased to announce its third participation to Collectible Fair from the 5th to 8th March 2020 in Brussels. The curator Jean-François Declercq will present its external project Itinerance #21 with the collective Stand Van Zaken, a selection of ceramics by Silver Sentimenti, Nitsa Meletopoulos, Eleonore Joulin, Tim Onderbeke, a wooden bench by Inessa Hansh , and a wall painting by the Belgian artist Manor Grunewald.

Founded by the architect Theo De Meyer and doorzon interieur architecten, the Ghent based collective Stand Van Zaken takes its inspiration from the Italian post-radical avant-garde studio Alchimia, founded in Milan by Alessandro Guerriero in 1976. They create objects with materials they use in their daily practice to imagine atypical interiors, such as drainpipes to compose a table, or stainless pipes for the chimney to make a lamp.

The architectural and colourful ceramic artworks by international designers selected for the show also reflect the influence and artistic revival of Alchimia and Memphis Group’s vision of anti-design founded by Ettore Sottsass in 1980.

The Ghent based artist Manor Grunewald is not only a painter but is also active in the fields of sculpture, installation and prints. He collects images everywhere in daily life, such as newspaper, advertising, books, comics, digital media, etc., and uses these pictorial materials as a source of inspiration for his artwork.

For this exhibition in the workshop of the sculptor Oscar Jespers, built in 1928 by the architect Victor Bourgeois, precursor of the modern movement, we chose to search for the original shade of the building. Simple folded sheets evoke the pure and subtle play of volumes assembled under the light, a wink to modernists”

L’univers de Yonel Lebovici

Exhibition from 23 Jan. until 29 Feb. 2020
23 Jan. 2020, 13-17.00
24 Jan. 2020, 14-18.00
Late Opening with a Drink on 25 Jan. 2020, 14-22.00
26 Jan. 2020, 14-19.00
By appointment on the other exhibition days

Atelier Jespers is pleased to announce its second large retrospective exhibition dedicated to the work of the sculptor-designer Yonel Lebovici. From the 23rd of January to the 29th of February 2020, the show will take place in the house-studio of the curator Jean-François Declercq in Brussels.

This major exhibition follows the last one organised by the patron and collector Yvon Poullain. He created the Yonel Lebovici permanent fund in 2003 in a modernist townhouse built by Robert Mallet-Stevens in 1932 for the master glassmaker Louis Barillet. To honour his dear friend's legacy, Yvon Poullain restored the exceptional building to host the first exhibition space "Le 15 square de Vergennes" dedicated to Yonel Lebovici's work and operated until Poullain’s death in 2010.

Ten years later, as chance would have it, the Yonel Lebovici retrospective will again take place in a modernist house built in 1928 by the greatest Belgian modernist architect Victor Bourgeois for the renowned sculptor Oscar Jespers in Brussels. In collaboration with the family Lebovici and Yvon Poullain's son Edouard, Jean-François Declercq will present selected unseen artworks, part of Edouard Poullain's & Lebovici family collection, and unique pieces on sale.

Born in 1937, Yonel Lebovici studied aeronautics before entering the École des Arts et Métiers in Paris. In 1959, he became part of the existentialist movement and got inspired by Calder, Takis, Tinguely and Léger. Fascinated by the perpetual motion, he made it the focal point of his work. He diverted the simplest objects by enlarging or highlighting their smallest details. His "useful sculptures" are not only elegant or ingenious; they have the common feature of irony and subtle acknowledgement. His "practical objects" listed, signed and created in a limited number, are true works of art. Poetic and overflowing with imagination, his work has been universally acclaimed until his death in 1998.

"He sent a powerful message that reminds us of the strength of these inventions, purified through their design, ennobled by their light, indispensable and perpetual as long as humankind shall live". Yvon Poullain

After exhibiting the talented Ghent-based artist Tim Onderbeke in 2018, Atelier Jespers is pleased to announce the launch of his new book « Labyrinth », published by MER.

The book Labyrinth published by MER exhibits a selection of extraordinary photographs by Tim Onderbeke (°1983) of architecture by Alfons Hoppenbrouwers, Juliaan Lampens, Paul Felix, Paul Meekels, Jul De Roover, Jan Tanghe, Lode Wouters, René Stapels, Victor Bourgeois and objects and sculptures by Roger Bonduel.
Tim Onderbeke invited Veronique Boone (professor at ULB architecture) to have an open conversation. This dialogue resulted in an interesting text which is enclosed in the book. Tim Onderbeke invited Veronique Boone (professor at ULB architecture) to have an open conversation. This dialogue resulted in an interesting text which is enclosed in the book.

The book is now available at the a wide selection of bookstores.
“Yvon Lambert librairie (FR), copyright Gent and Antwerpen (BE), Museum Dhondt Dhaenens (BE), Hochparterre Bucher (CH), the book society (Seoul), CIVA bookshop (BE) and online at the MER website”.

http://www.merbooks.be/projects

ISBN : 978 94 6393 085 7