“GRIS SOLEIL”

 Sarah CHEVEAU – Ludovic DEMARCHE – Maud DALLEMAGNE – Jonathan DE WINTER – Pauline DORNAT (BLACKWOOL) – Camille DUFOUR – Arnaud EUBELEN – Céline PINCKERS – Denis VERKEYN

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This exhibition brings together nine designers, illustrators, engravers and woodworkers to explore the importance of gesture in art. At a time when even aesthetics urgently need to be put at the service of preserving natural resources, the dialogue is open to reconciling art and craft, reflection and action. The questions of ‘making’, ‘know-how’ and ‘doing with’ are the Ariadne’s threads of this exhibition, leading visitors to reconnect thought and gesture as they make their discoveries.

The starting point for this exhibition is a meeting between an artist and a woodworker: Ludovic Demarche and Denis Verkeyn. The idea was to work together on productions that would blur the boundaries between art and design. This desire to blur the lines has fuelled a broader reflection on art, craft and design. It’s a journey we need to take to get back to the essentials of a practice: “what the hand knows” (to use the title given by the philosopher Richard Senett to his book on craftsmanship in the broadest sense).

This project is first and foremost about a form of commitment, about giving your whole self, about wanting to do things well. The question of ‘doing’ (above all, doing it yourself) has therefore become central to our thinking. How can we reconnect thought with action?

For this exhibition, we decided to bring together artists, designers, illustrators, woodworkers and engravers, all of whom draw their raw materials from the local environment. Over and above the idea of respecting the environment, it is above all the desire to “make do”. Making do with what’s at hand means adapting. The situation in which we find ourselves and the material available will guide the designer’s gesture. The hand, through touch and the techniques it masters, becomes the conductor of knowledge. In this way, creating is no longer about putting forward the idea that you are trying to shape, but also about listening, experimenting, feeling and making.

“Making with” also means making with others. Another person with or for whom you work, or simply with whom you share a project. The desire to pass on, to show, to teach others is just as present in this exhibition.

Artists presented : Sarah CHEVEAU – Ludovic DEMARCHE – Maud DALLEMAGNE – Jonathan DE WINTER – Pauline DORNAT (BLACKWOOL) – Camille DUFOUR – Arnaud EUBELEN – Céline PINCKERS – Denis VERKEYN

Curators :
Ludovic DEMARCHE et Justine MATHONET

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Exhibition space : Centre wallon d’Art contemporain – La Châtaigneraie, 19, Chaussée de Ramioul, 4400 Flémalle

Dates : 23/03/2024 – 05/05/2024

Opening hours : Wednesday to Sunday, 14:00 to 18:00 or by appointment. Closed on Mondays, Tuesdays and public holidays.

Vernissage : Friday 22 March 2024 at 18:30.

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Workshops :

06 April 2024 – morning and/or afternoon – Adult weaving workshops.

07 April 2024 – morning and/or afternoon – Children’s weaving workshops.

With Pauline Dornat (Blackwool). €40 per half-day – €70 per day.

21 April 2024, 14:00 to 18:00 – Workshop with Maud Dallemagne (screen printing) and guided tour of the exhibition at 14:30.

Free admission. Information and booking : justine@cwac.be

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