Renaissance

Schönfeld Gallery is a versatile art space showing work by young and old, promising and renowned national and international artists. First came the premises in the Rivoli building in Brussels, then the gallery opened a second space in Antwerp. Under the name Schönfeld Gallery Projects fascinating, colourful exhibitions are organised here. With Renaissance​, the gallery stages a dual exhibition spread out over the two locations.

Renaissance​ is a collaboration between artists Jesse Willems, Magda Amarioarei and Babs Decruyenaere. Both exhibitions dwell on hope and optimism after the extraordinary lockdown times. It is not so much about the impact of lockdown, but about its influence on the future: the opportunity and need for a new start, and the question whether a whole new beginning is possible and desirable.

Jesse Willems, who also curates the exhibition, shows collages made from old, fragile scrap paper combined with coloured paper from old family photo albums. The beauty of his work lies in its geometric patterns of pronounced contrast. Time has left its mark on the paper, which helps the work evolve into a different temporality from our present time. The passing of time is literally caught in the image.

For the Antwerp exhibition Willems invited fellow citizen Babs Decruyenaere. Like Willems, Decruyenaere works with found materials such as stones, shells, driftwood and other free treasures. She observes, selects and pick up all sorts of rubbish, and makes it her own in carefully composed photograms. In her work around the camera obscura she returns to the basics of photography. Apart from photographic work, she will also show two mobiles and three sculptures in this exhibition.

Renaissance

Jesse Willems & Magda ​Amarioarei Schönfeld Gallery,
Chaussée de Waterloo 690, 1180 Brussels, from 30th August to 24th October.

Jesse Willems & Babs Decruyenaere​ Schönfeld Gallery Projects, Mechelsesteenweg 120, 2018 Antwerp, from 25 October to 29th November.

          Jesse Willems , Kanagawa oki nami ura

          Left: Babs Decruyenaere, Sculpture II / Middle: Jesse Willems, Ruins of an empire / Right: Babs Decruyenaere, Sculpture III

          Left: Babs Decruyenaere, Essence Of A Rock / Right: Jesse Willems, Thinking in circles. Four interventions          Left: Jesse Willems, A. Straighten up and fly right / Right: Jesse Willems at work, from he documentary ‘Eden’

 

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Words by Stephanie De Smet