HOW TO DO THINGS WITH COLOUR, LUCA at Barbé Gallery, Ghent, Belgium, March. 29->April 4,2024

HOW TO DO THINGS WITH COLOUR an exhibition resulting from an investigation into the use of colour in sculptures from the studio Sculpture, Glass & Ceramics, Luca school of Art, Ghent by Barbara Vandecauter.

In the exhibition “How to Do Things with Colour”, we invite visitors to explore the deeper meaning and influence of colour in sculptures. The philosopher Ludwich Feuerbach once remarked that “sense cannot be reduced to concepts”.
This thought underpins this project, which examines the complexity and subjectivity of colour. We often use words like ‘colour’ without considering the personal interpretation and connotations each of us gives to it.
In developing the Impulse project ‘Coloured Matter’ at Luca, which began as a renewal of the glaze archive of the Sculpture, Glass & Ceramics studio in collaboration with workshop manager Sabine De Roo, the question arose as to how we can enrich and deepen our experience of colour in sculpture.
As part of the fascinating search for the multifaceted interpretations and applications of colour in sculptural work, I invited the artists involved to give lectures at Luca during the academic year on the interpretation of colour in their artistic practice.
This exhibition, the conclusion of the lecture series, far from being an explosion of splashes of colour, highlights the diversity of approaches to colour and emphasises the integrity in the relationship between artist and use of colour.
The title “How to Do Things with Colour” is a reference to “How to Do Things with Words”, the book by philosopher J.L. Austin, in which he argues that performative expressions of language, as opposed to descriptive statements, imply actions that alter reality.
In a similar way, this exhibition goes beyond the idea of colour as an aesthetic in sculptures. It highlights how colour is an experience that affects our perception and emotions, often in ways that are elusive in words, just like Austin’s performative statements.
This exhibition is an invitation to dialogue about how colour, similar to words, can be an active and transformative force in our experience of reality. It is an exploration of colour as a means of creating meaning and experience, challenging and redefining the view of colour in sculpture as a mere aesthetic addition.
With “How to Do Things with Colour”, we provide a platform for this unique and often unspoken dialogue.

 

In de tentoonstelling “How to Do Things with Colour” nodigen we de bezoeker uit om de diepere betekenis en invloed van kleur in sculpturen te verkennen. De filosoof Ludwich Feuerbach merkte ooit op dat “zintuigelijkheid niet te reduceren valt tot concepten”.

Deze gedachte ligt aan de basis van dit project, waarbij de complexiteit en subjectiviteit van kleur onder de loep wordt genomen. Vaak gebruiken we woorden als ‘kleur’ zonder stil te staan bij de persoonlijke invulling en connotaties die ieder van ons eraan geeft.

Bij het ontwikkelen van het Impulsproject ‘Gekleurde materie’ in Luca, dat begon als een vernieuwing van het glazuurarchief van het atelier Sculptuur, Glas & Keramiek in samenwerking met werkplaatsverantwoordelijke Sabine De Roo, rees de vraag hoe we onze ervaring van kleur in sculpturen kunnen verrijken en verdiepen.

In het kader van de boeiende zoektocht naar de veelzijdige interpretaties en toepassingen van kleur in sculpturaal werk, heb ik de betrokken kunstenaars uitgenodigd om gedurende het academiejaar lezingen te geven op Luca over de invulling van kleur in hun artistieke praktijk.

Deze tentoonstelling, de afronding van de lezingenreeks, verre van een explosie van kleurspetters, belicht de diversiteit in de benadering van kleur en benadrukt de integriteit in de relatie tussen kunstenaar en kleurgebruik.

De titel “How to Do Things with Colour” is een verwijzing naar “How to Do Things with Words”, het boek van de filosoof J.L. Austin, waarin hij stelt dat performatieve taaluitingen, in tegenstelling tot beschrijvende uitspraken, handelingen impliceren die de realiteit veranderen.

Op een soortgelijke manier gaat deze tentoonstelling verder dan het idee van kleur als een esthetisch aspect in sculpturen. Het onderstreept hoe kleur een ervaring is die onze perceptie en emoties beïnvloedt, vaak op manieren die ongrijpbaar zijn in woorden, net als Austin’s performatieve uitspraken.

Deze tentoonstelling is een uitnodiging tot dialoog over hoe kleur, vergelijkbaar met woorden, een actieve en transformerende kracht kan zijn in onze beleving van de werkelijkheid. Het is een exploratie van kleur als een middel om betekenis en ervaring te creëren, die de kijk op kleur in sculpturen als louter esthetische toevoeging uitdaagt en herdefinieert.

Met “How to Do Things with Colour” bieden we een podium voor deze unieke en vaak onuitgesproken dialoog.

HIGH FIRED II, Franzis Engels Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands,March 2>April, 14, 2024

Ceramics is hot! And not just because it is fired on high temperatures, but mainly because it is such a fantastic material with almost inexhaustible possibilities for making a sculpture. Techniques and forms of expression are almost limitless. From snow white to ink black and all colours in between, matt or glossy, figurative or abstract, traditional, rough or very delicate, whatever an artist comes up with (and these are often very special sculptures) everything seems possible with clay and porcelain. Clay and porcelain are magical materials that, under the hands of the artist, transform from an unformed lump into beautiful sculptures. A group show with AnneMarie Laureys CeramicsNick ErvinckCecil KemperinkMarja KennisMarga KnavenSu MeloJoke Raes

Keramiek is hot! En niet alleen omdat het zo heet wordt gebakken, maar vooral omdat het zo’n fantastisch materiaal is met bijna onuitputtelijke mogelijkheden voor het maken van een beeld. Technieken en uitdrukkingsvormen zijn bijna grenzeloos. Van sneeuwwit tot inktzwart en alle kleuren daartussen, mat of glanzend, figuratief of abstract, traditioneel, ruw of heel delicaat, wat een kunstenaar ook bedenkt (en dat zijn vaak heel bijzondere beelden) alles lijkt mogelijk met klei en porselein. Klei en porselein zijn magische materialen die, onder de handen van de kunstenaar, van een ongevormde klomp veranderen in prachtige sculpturen.

Met AnneMarie Laureys CeramicsNick ErvinckCecil KemperinkMarja KennisMarga KnavenSu MeloJoke Raes

 

TRANSFORMATIVE BOUNDARIES, Fabienne Levy Gallery, Geneve & Lausanne, November 19, 2023>January 27, 2024

In the world of art, boundaries are not obstacles; they are invitations to transcend. 
 
Fabienne Levy has extended an invitation to Taste Contemporary to create new dialogues with different artists.
Taste Contemporary is delighted to announce a collaboration with the Fabienne Levy Gallery.
The exhibition Transformative Boundaries sees the work of our gallery artists Anne Marie Laureys, Babs Haenen and Johannes Nagel alongside works by Andrea Galvani, Catherine Bolle, Daniela Edburg and Norbert Bisky.
The group of works in this exhibition is a testament to the human spirit’s limitless capacity for imagination and creation. Each brush stroke, each sculpted form and each thought-provoking installation tells a story of transformation.

PETIS OBJETS a, Galerie 10a, Belgium, December 1>31, 2023

Met onze groepsexpo Petits objets a maken we een knipoog naar het begrip ‘objet petit a’ bedacht door Jacques Lacan. Deze psychoanalyticus benoemde het object dat ons verlangen veroorzaakt met de kleine letter a.

Het petit objet a wijst op het onbereikbare. Het is het object van de oorzaak van het verlangen of het raam dat de afwezigheid ervan laat zien.

 

2023-BISE opus#4, SPELBOUND, ceramics H 20 x 20 x 20cm

2023_BISE opus#4 SPELBOUND, ceramics H 20 x 20 x 20cm

BISE, soloshow La Verrière, Brussels, Belgium, May 17>July 29, 2023

The exhibition conceived by Joël Riff, “Bise”, invokes a meteorological metaphor to define the works of Anne Marie Laureys, its title an affectionate name for the North wind that blows across Europe. Shaking up the ancient practice of pottery, the artist, born in 1962 in Belgium, first deforms and then assembles clay thrown on a wheel, creating improbable shapes whose balance only the firing process can hold. Thus, her works take on complex forms, often turned upside down or inside out, rolled up or hollowed out, tapered, compressed or stretched. They defy the classical vocabularies of sculpture, while at the same time celebrating tactility through the visible imprint left by the artist’s hand on these indefinable volumes. “Bise”, the sculptor’s first solo exhibition in Brussels, celebrates the vitality of breath and the contact of surfaces, juxtaposing Anne Marie Laureys’ pieces – whose colors evoke atmospheric phenomena – with those of other artists. A sculpture by Auguste Rodin highlights the sensuality of forms in his and Laureys’s work. Painter Maude Maris and writer Amélie Lucas-Gary, who also took part in the previous exhibition at La Verrière, enter into further dialogues with the work of Anne Marie Laureys. This long-form approach to companion works, running over several exhibitions, underscores the exhibition space’s role as a place of convergence and encounter.The Bise exhibition celebrates contact and movement, the two founding principles of thrown clay. Fingers follow the substance as it is brought to life, guiding contours and raising volumes.

Anne Marie Laureys’ ceramics remain vessels. They contain her moods, preserving or pouring them out. On her wheel, she makes rain and good weather. Her aerial repertoire awakens a whole meteorological lexicon. Gusts and even cyclones make the supple panels twirl. In her studio, the artist controls the storms that create her clouds. And in the atmosphere, the bise traditionally refers to a northerly wind that sweeps across Europe through Belgium.

La Verrière in Brussels is a space where the Foundation d’ entreprise Hermès supports the visual arts through an exhibition programme like Bise is one. The Foundation closely accompanies every step of the creative process, partly from the production stages trough to their presentation to the public.

 

Bise, une exposition bruxelloise qui éveille la vigueur d’un souffle

Bise est la deuxième exposition de Joël Riff en tant que commissaire de La Verrière, à Bruxelles, l’évènement propose de donner une visibilité inédite à la céramiste belge Anne Marie Laureys tout en l’associant à trois autres personnalités : Maude MarisAmélie Lucas-Gary et Auguste Rodin. Articulant oeuvres existantes, nouvelles productions et prêt exceptionnel d’un objet historique, l’accrochage affirme une dynamique sculpturale sous la bienveillance de la peinture.

La bise est un vent du Nord qui balaie l’Europe. Elle est froide et sa caresse peut sembler clinique. Elle apporte pourtant le beau temps. Elle nous touche, en une période où le contact n’est plus d’usage. Aussi, où que l’on soit, l’origine des choses relève d’un façonnage insufflé de vie par des gestes de démiurge. D’ailleurs ce mot en grec ancien signifie artisan. Le potier gonfle depuis toujours des poumons d’argile.

Anne Marie Laureys, depuis plus de quatre décennies, tourne la terre. Ses formes retiennent leur respiration. Et ici, une autre expire infiniment.

Anne Marie Laureys modèle des chairs sans figure. Elle fait naître d’un souffle ses créatures, entre ses paumes, à partir d’une motte bien centrée. Sur un axe, des volumes sont tournés puis déformés et assemblés. Ils sont monstres.

L’artiste bouscule la pratique ancestrale de la poterie, exploitant sa dextérité en la matière pour métamorphoser le gabarit d’une vaisselle bien faite en une lignée d’ectoplasmes. Pour cela elle éventre et dévisage avec pour objectif de soulever une harmonie alternative. C’est la cuisson qui permet de tenir d’improbables équilibres sans quoi la terre s’affaisserait. Des organes gonflés à l’épiderme tendrement poudré patientent, tenant la pose, dans leur envolée. Leur voltige s’immortalise. Ce façonnage implique une double rotation, différée, avec d’abord celle de l’argile sur sa girelle, puis celle du public autour de l’objet terminé. Ça s’appelle la révolution.

 

GOING BEYOND, Taste Contemporary at Cromwell Place, London, UK, May 30>June 4, 2023

Taste Contemporary presented Going Beyond; Michael Brennand-Wood and Anne Marie Laureys at Cromwell Place, London from 30th May to 4th June 2023.

 Michael Brennand-Wood has an international reputation as one of the most innovative and inspiring artists working in textiles today, drawing in fabric and creating work that is sculptural and tactile. For this exhibition, Taste Contemporary presents a new body of his work called Storyboards. Created between 2020 and 2022, this series embraces the unpredictable as an important component of creative thought. ‘It’s about finding a narrative within a collection of seemingly random images. I’m far more interested in finding a new story within work, than illustrating an existing concept’ says Brennand-Wood.

 Belgian ceramic artist Anne Marie Laureys begins her process by throwing a classic, symmetrical pot. Whilst the clay is still soft and wet, she pulls, folds, pinches and punctures it. Suggestive of Michael Brennand-Wood’s Storyboard series, her pieces appear to have a spontaneous, unplanned quality. However, Laureys takes her time to find the shape of a vessel, remoulding and refolding the clay over and over again until it speaks with her unique voice.

ART BRUSSELS, artistic projects Becraft, Brussels, Belgium, April 20>23, 2023

BeCraft is a professional association promoting the applied arts in the Walloon and Brussels regions. Ceramics, glass, jewellery, paper, textiles and object design are, among others, the creative fields in which the artists supported and promoted by BeCraft are active.

MAESTROS DEL FUTURO, Castillo de San Jorge, Sevilla, Spain, March 22>May 31, 2023

‘Masters of the Future. Crafts and Design in Europe’ is an event taking place at Castillo de San Jorge in Seville from 22 March to 31 May 2023, presented by Seville City Office and coordinated by the Contemporary Association of Arts and Crafts, with the support of BeCraft and the Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship. 

 

The exhibition is part of a larger movement celebrating craftsmanship, a movement that began in Venice in 2022 with ‘Homo Faber: Crafting a more human future’, specifically with the exhibition called ‘Next of Europe’. Since then, the Michelangelo Foundation co-created with BeCraft a Belgium-based event called ‘Creative Nature’ and is now in Seville for ‘Masters of the Future’. 

The exhibition is curated by Jean Blanchaert, gallery owner, art critic, writer and illustrator who was involved with the curation of ‘Next of Europe’, along with Irina Eschenazi (assistant curator) and Ramón Vergara (assistant curator for Spain). ‘Masters of the Future’ will showcase a total of 50 works that explore and exemplify contemporary master craftsmanship. The excellence of Sevillian and Andalusian savoir-faire will be represented by a selection of international and Spanish artisans.

 

CREATIVE NATURE, Becraft, Mons, Belgium, November 19, 2022 > February 12, 2023

BECRAFT EXPO GRANDE HALLE DES ANCIENS ABATTOIRS, MONS, BELGIUM
Commissariat : Jean Blanchaert assisté par Irina Eschenazi
Scénographie : Evelyne Gilmont

Une exposition collective avec le soutien de la Michelangelo Foundation.

Réservoir (de savoir), le vase, le bol, l’amphore,… revêt une fonction primitive, étroitement liée à la Nature et à la nature des Hommes. Le contenant renferme tout ce qui est de matière, de denrées, d’Histoire et d’Humanité. Creative Nature propose cette rencontre entre Nature créative et créativité du geste. Évoqués ou formels, ces concepts s’illustrent par une centaine d’objets réinterprétés par les métiers d’arts contemporains de la céramique, du verre, de l’orfèvrerie, du bois, du textile, exploitant parfois de nouveaux matériaux tels que le silicone ou les matières organiques… autant de créations faisant appel à la maîtrise du geste et appelant résolument à questionner le monde.

Abundance of her delicacies, 2021, H 75x63x56cm, ceramics, ©peterclaeys

HIGH FIRED, Galerie Franzis Engels, Amsterdam, NL, September 01>October 15, 2022

HIGH FIRED A groupshow HIGH FIRED at Galerie Franzis Engels: Anne Marie Laureys Ceramics, Deirdre McLoughlin, Eileen Cohen Sussholz, Joke Raes, Marga Knaven, Marja Kennis, Nathalie Campion en Reinier Lagendijk.

On Saturday 03.09.2022, Wendy Gers (Curator of Modern and Contemporary Ceramics, Keramiekmuseum Princessehof) will officially open the exhibition at 16.00 hrs. You are welcome!

Ceramics is hot! And not only because it is fired so hot, but especially because it is such a fantastic material with almost inexhaustible possibilities for making a sculpture. Techniques and forms of expression are almost limitless. From white as snow to ink black and all the colours in between, matt or glossy, figurative or abstract, traditional, rough or very delicate, whatever an artist dreams up (and these are often very exceptional sculptures) everything seems possible with clay and porcelain. Clay and porcelain are magical materials that, under the hands of the artist, transform from an unformed lump into wonderful sculptures.