Last Friday, I took a bus to Brussels. After four long hours, chatting with a friendly Senegalese man who sat next to me (he started the conversation with “Senegal is love peace and harmony”), I arrived at Salon Mirage – a three day edition/book/zine festival.
Mattie (now my husband since a few weeks ago <3) was invited for a group exhibition during the festival along with Quentin Chambry, Alexis Poline and Adrien Frégosi. All four of them live in different cities (Paris, Rennes, Angers, Sète), so they arrived in Brussels a week before the exhibition opening to produce all the works under the same roof.
Mattie didn’t send me any photos during the week of the production, and I didn’t really ask for them. Mattie’s last few exhibitions were with me, so I was looking forward to be surprised by what he would produce with other guys.
When I walked up to the gallery space which was a floor above the book fair, Senegalese man’s words on the bus came to my mind – “love peace and harmony!” A group exhibition could often be chaotic or divided, but instead, I found the show otherwise. Also, even though I know everyone’s work really well – especially Mattie, Quentin and Alexis’ works – their choice of collaborating made the works new and surprising.
Quentin painted these series with diluted ink off of a carbon paper.
Mattie made the base print using smeared offset printing ink, then together with Quentin and Alexis, they painted on top with ink and oil sticks.
Alexis usual giant canvases, but with unusual brush strokes and color combination.
Drew by Quentin and colored by Alexis. One of my favorite pieces.
Mattie’s paper cut out series, which surprised me the most, using feather light papers and staples. They hung loosely by yarns, almost floating and beautifully backlit by the window behind them.
The book festival was equally great – cozy atmosphere, friendly people, admirable zines (I will share them in future posts), satisfying croque-monsieur served at the bar. You can check out the photos of the festival here (French).
It was a short trip, and we took the train back to Paris on Sunday. As we were walking to the train station, I would not stop talking about Belgium french fries and american filet (my must eats in Belgium) which we didn’t have time to eat and wished I had a few more hours in Brussels. Well, next time : )
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PREMIER RECARD
Group exhibition at Salon Mirage (Brussels, Belgium)
Quentin Chambry, Alexis Poline, Adrien Frégosi, Mathieu Julien
15, 16, 17 September, 2017