WHITE CUBE
ARCHIVES
Discover the selected Artworks since the beginning of the White Cube in Liège!
© JL DERU
March-April 2024
Samuel Fosso
Cameroun, 1962
Léopold Sédar Senghor
(Serie African Spirits), 2008
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​‘...As in all my works, I am both the character and the director. I do not put myself in the photographs: my work is based on specific situations and characters with whom I am familiar, things that I desire, that I elaborate on in my imagination, and that I then interpret. I borrow an identity. To succeed in this, I immerse myself in the necessary physical and mental state. It’s a way of escaping from myself. A lonely passage. I am a lonely man.’ Samuel Fosso
In his series African Spirits (2008), Fosso continued to transform his appearance by impersonating fourteen emblematic figures from the civil rights movement in the United States. Here, he is impersonating Léopold Sédar Senghor.
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​Film photography, 180 x 135 cm
Janvier 2024
Bonolo Kavula
South Africa, 1992
I rise, 2022​
© JL DERU
Méditation sur textile.
Bonolo Kavula a développé un language visuel singulier s’appuyant sur la gravure, la peinture, la sculpture. Elle s’approprie les textiles traditionnels comme le shweshwe et crée des œuvres minutieuses, abstraites et suspendues, en lien avec son identité.
Les motifs ne sont pas sans rappeler le colonialisme et la mémoire sud-africaine.
La délicatesse du tissage, la répétition excessive des points nous évoque le processus méditatif et pour citer l'artiste, thérapeutique de la création de l'oeuvre.
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Tissus, Fils.
February 2024
Paolo Gasparotto
Belgique, 1956
Pauvre petit belge qui tremble, 1985​
© JL DERU
In the 1980s, Paolo Gasparotto developed a neo-expressionistic style coloured by several influences, including German expressionism. Across his canvases, he uses a look imbued with humour and irreverence to treat subjects linked to Liège and Wallonia.
In this vein, the canvas Pauvre petit belge qui tremble (which translates into English as ‘Poor little Belgian who’s trembling’) tackles the earthquake that shook the Liège region in 1983. A fault in the ground, buildings that vibrate and sway, outbursts from the sky and nature, the panic of the people …
The catastrophe is represented with a quick, rapid stroke. The title of the piece, the vibrant colours and the general treatment of the scene align with the characteristic impertinence of the artist.
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Painting on canvas.
Décembre 2023
René Magritte
Belgique, 1898-1967
"Ceci est le facsimilé du chapeau de René Magritte"​
Installation magique signée Levita
© JL DERU
L’un des peintres surréalistes les plus connus, René Magritte, tentera de démontrer que l'on n'entrevoit de la réalité que son mystère, si l'on sort de notre habituelle et routinière logique. Ses œuvres jouent souvent sur le décalage entre un objet et sa représentation.
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Quand, à partir de 1927, il rejoint à Paris le groupe surréaliste, il ajoutera à l'atmosphère insolite de ses réalisations toute une gamme d'objets familiers. Un de plus usuels et importants de l'iconographie de l'artiste est le chapeau melon, avec la valise et la pipe.
Nous présentons ici son véritable chapeau, celui que l'on peut admirer dans ses tableaux les plus représentatifs (comme Le fils de l'homme ou L'homme au chapeau melon), et dans ses photos personnelles les plus diffusées.
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L'installation recrée l'ambiance de l'atelier de Magritte et son chapeau s'y déplace en lévitation. Cette prouesse a été réalisée par l'entreprise liégeoise Levita. L'original de l'oeuvre est visible - sans magie cette fois - à la collection Uhoda.
October - November 2023
Patrick Corillon
Belgique, 1959
Carpeaux, 1987
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Installation (electric wires)
© JL DERU
The sentences by Patrick Corillon are from ex-votos that he places at the feet of artists (coming from the fields of painting, sculpture or literature) in gratitude for having been able to feed himself through their works. As such, he associates these artists with things that have never really existed, but that contribute to embellishing their legend.
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Electrical wires, ordinarily concealed, appear here in broad daylight to affirm that the first energy capable of lighting and heating our everyday life, comes from those who, through their work, open our imagination.
"J.-B. Carpeaux (Valenciennes, 1827 – Courbevoie, 1875) erected the Carrara marble statue Saint François parlant aux oiseaux (Saint Francis speaking to birds).
Every week, he would put a small packet of seeds on the palm of the statue’s outheld hand.
On the day of Carpeaux’s death, the statue’s forearm fell off, corroded away by bird droppings."
September 2023
Claude Viallat
France, 1936
Traces, 1972
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Daniel Dezeuze
France, 1942
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Painting on wooden rollers
© JL DERU
Movement Support/Surface
Separating the canvas from its stretcher, experimenting with materials.
Août 2023
Fouad BOUCHOUCHA
France, 1981
Goodbye Horses 1, 2010
© JL DERU
L'adieu à la course !
Goodbye Horses 1 est une maquette de l'oeuvre Goodbye Horses, présentée au palais de Tokyo en 2013. Fouad Bouchoucha a imaginé un projet autour de la Bugatti Veyron. L’agence 7L crée alors les images de synthèse du projet et aide à la réalisation du dossier qui mènera Bugatti à devenir le partenaire principal pour la réalisation.
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L’artiste convainc le constructeur de « la voiture la plus rapide du monde » de produire l’objet qui viendra surpasser son propre potentiel, et annuler par là même sa conduite. De ce procédé découle un habillage esthétique et aérodynamique qui, en venant parfaire les facultés de l’engin, obstrue du même coup toutes voies de visibilité (phares, pare-brise avant).
Induite à l’extrême de ses prétentions, la Bugatti ainsi modélisée est rendue inutilisable. La technologie déconnectée de son usage humain, n’a ici plus aucun sens.
June 2023
Guillaume BIJL
Antwerp (BE), 1946
Composition trouvée (1992)
© JL DERU
Perfect imitations of reality.
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Since the end of the 1980s, Guillaume Bijl has used his artwork to explore the boundaries between art and social reality.
In reference to the ‘Found Objects’ of the Dadaists (a movement that appeared during the First World War and advocated for freedom of creation), he created his Composition trouvée (‘Found compositions’), a sort of archaeological still life of contemporary society.
These assemblies of banal objects—china found in flea markets or certain antique stores—are always carefully thought out, transforming the exhibition halls into everyday spaces. Perceived by the viewer as familiar environments, these ‘fragments of realistic and kitsch interiors’ are a means for the artist to confront his own consumerism in a humorous and ironic way.
© JL DERU
May 2023
Jacques CHARLIER
Liège (BE), 1939
Désoeuvre Post Moderne Néo-Retro (1980)
Try every means of expression while remaining free.
April 2023
Pol PIERART
Liège (BE), 1955
MECONNAITRE (2022)
© JL DERU
In the photographic work of Pol Piérart, the medium, because it is declined in the simplicity and immediacy of black and white, favours the reading of the image, the deciphering of words, and humour. The small white signs, placed next to objects with which they interact, or presented in the background of exterior views, give short phrases to read. They functioning like slogans, maxims or subtly misappropriated expressions,notably through the use of homophony.
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In other images, similar to the practices of the artist in painting, a word is transformed by the rewriting of certain letters or by the way that a different written form opens it to a double meaning.The immediate environment of the artist, his living environment and the object that surround him procure the support of his reflections. It’s therefore only logical that he sometimes puts himself in the scene, not wanting to exempt himself from this vision of humanity, the problems and contradictions of which he highlights, in a satire that is tender, or more caustic when it stigmatises the social or even political situation.
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The pieces, presenting a thread of life, pass from the most trivial register, the most frivolous, to the most grave, often imbued with poetry. And if these images are based on the principle of playing on words, they still invite the audience, in the flutter of deciphering, to summon up their own lives or experiences, constructed from these anecdotes that give rhythm to the day-to-day lives of all of us.(Anne Wauters) “Of his painting, the artist says the it allows him to go directly to the essential, that it authorises him to capture the physical presence of the word. As such, contrary to his photography, which apostrophizes attention through methods of association endowed with meaning and by staging aphorisms and other language games, the canvases surprise with a great economy of means and a rhythmic syntax limited to a single word.
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In fresh colour, the paint rapidly traces letters that comprise an apparently insignificant term. Anyone who is even a little familiar with the artist pays attention to what follows: through a game of crossing out, superimposed traits and letters that have been tampered with, the word initially written takes on a different meaning and incites all sorts of interpretations, departures and detours. The letters zigzag in our thoughts like a comet. They go quickly, touching in just the right way, in agreement with the detached irony of the message delivered. Behind the apparent lightness of the semantic interfaces, there is a gravity that is barely acknowledged.”
Extract from a text by Julie Bawin (Issue 34 of L'art même, 2007.)
Mars 2023
Cornélius ANNOR
Accra (GH), 1990
KWAME PHOTOOO (2022)
© JL DERU
Cornelius Annor est un peintre figuratif qui dépeint la vie quotidienne, en partant souvent de souvenirs d'enfance et de l'histoire familiale (mariages, baptêmes, anniversaires, etc.) : regarder l'ensemble de l'œuvre d'Annor, c'est comme tourner les feuilles d'un album de famille.
Inspiré par la pratique de l'artiste britannique et nigérian Yinka Shonibare, sa méthode unique de transfert de tissu – qui consiste à placer celui-ci sur la toile pendant plusieurs heures – laisse un vestige décoloré du motif sur la toile, comme le signe d’une mémoire collective.
Sur le côté droit de la composition se tient un homme vêtu d'une chemise bleue tenant une caméra vidéo. Il s'agit de M. Kwame Amponsah, alias Kwame Photooo, un photographe très connu à Accra qui assiste à tous les événements familiaux pendant les périodes de fête, devenu comme un gardien des moments perdus.
February 2023
Mark MELVIN
(1979, Bury, UK)
Same again (A sign from Cyndi)
© JL DERU
Works by Mark Melvin encourage the viewer to reflect on sentences and phrases that stay on the mind for a long time. They dwell in the memory and release subjective memories, taking on different meanings depending on the personal experiences of the person who looks at them.
The installation Same again (A sign from Cyndi), was created in 2005 for a solo exhibition as part of the Crosby Homes Manchester City Art Prize. Neon lights create a circle of text, alternatively illuminated in blue and pink. The phrase ‘Time after Time’ revolves endlessly in a mechanical movement, a hypnotic game on the notion of repetition. The subtitle of the piece references Cyndi Lauper, the singer from the 1980s, and the artist’s memories of her.
Mark Melvin gained recognition through several prizes, residences and exhibitions in the United Kingdom and abroad. He was winner of the Nationwide Mercury Art Prize. Mark Melvin studied at the Glasgow School of Art, the Maryland Institute College of Art, then at Valand Academy in Sweden and Central Saint Martin College of Art and Design.
December 2022 - January 2023
Léo LUCCIONI
(1994, Foix, France)
Gouverner
© JL DERU - Texte: Sophie Zanier
Léo Luccioni is fascinated by the ability of contemporary companies to assimilate or digest criticism to adapt to every major change in society. Like entrepreneurial storytelling – where the interest in the story and aesthetics of merchandise is more important than its use – the artist gives new meaning to everyday objects.
This strategy of diversion is used in the framework of his installation Gouverner: the former logo of a French petrol company is redesigned with shaking, trembling lines, alongside gas bottles that have been transformed into meditative percussion instruments.
By positively changing the meaning of these objects, the artist encourages spectators to open their eyes to the ambiguous relationship they have with the products issued by the consumer society.
October-November 2022
Zhang YEXING
(1981, Shenyang, China)
1709
© JL DERU - Texte: Sophie Zanier
During his artistic studies in Shenyang – an industrial city in the north-east of China – Zhang Yexing acquired a pictorial practice inspired by paintings from the former Soviet Union.
In the time of the USSR, official art had to faithfully illustrate the social reality of the working class, which could then recognise and appreciate its situation. To best portray the social reality of the city of his birth, the artist reproduced on canvas a corridor on the 17th floor of a building in Shenyang for housing workers.
In this interior piece, Yexing lingers in particular on the curtain entry to apartment 9, in front of which slippers have been carefully placed. This scene mysteriously fuels the imagination of the viewer, who can mentally picture the daily life of a Chinese worker.
September 2022
Georges COLLIGNON
(1923-2002, Liège, Belgium)
Surabstreel (Barbarella)
1967
© JL DERU - Text: Sophie Zanier
Breaking with the beauty standards promoted by Western fashion magazines, through her lens, Thandiwe Muriu highlights the singular beauty of her compatriots, often excluded from the standards in their own country.
Titled CAMO, her series of photographs references the way in which the subject represented blends into the background, with only certain characteristics or peculiarities to stand out. In this series, the artist reconnects with the glorious past of African queens, crowning her models with traditional hairstyles that have been lost from memory, while celebrating the dark skin of the young women photographed. Also wanting to reflect the ingenuity of the Kenyan people, Muriu transforms day-to-day objects—such as laundry baskets or sponges—into true fashion accessories.
Through her radiantly coloured photographs, the artist aims to encourage African women to be more aware of their uniqueness while celebrating the opulence of their heritage.
July - August 2022
Thandiwe MURIU
(1990, Nairobi, Kenya)
Series Camo
2018
© JL DERU - Text: Sophie Zanier
Breaking with the beauty standards promoted by Western fashion magazines, through her lens, Thandiwe Muriu highlights the singular beauty of her compatriots, often excluded from the standards in their own country.
Titled CAMO, her series of photographs references the way in which the subject represented blends into the background, with only certain characteristics or peculiarities to stand out. In this series, the artist reconnects with the glorious past of African queens, crowning her models with traditional hairstyles that have been lost from memory, while celebrating the dark skin of the young women photographed. Also wanting to reflect the ingenuity of the Kenyan people, Muriu transforms day-to-day objects—such as laundry baskets or sponges—into true fashion accessories.
Through her radiantly coloured photographs, the artist aims to encourage African women to be more aware of their uniqueness while celebrating the opulence of their heritage.
Mai 2022
Chris SOAL,
(1994, Johannesburg, Afrique du Sud)
Within and Without
2020
@JL Deru - Text: Sophie Zanier
A new aesthetic to consumer waste.
Sculpture, 2020.
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An attentive observer of contemporary society, Chris Soal aims to use his art to denounce the destructive relationship humans have with their environment. The artist pursues his objectives by creating sculptures from waste and garbage—such as the metal caps on beer bottles—that are ubiquitous in the urban landscape of Johannesburg.
Assembled in a new context, hundreds of everyday objects acquire new identities. By arranging these beer caps in opposing directions, Soal creates an illusion of movement that changes the audience’s relationship with the sculpture. Through his work, the artist invites the audience to become aware that their every action has the potential to positively impact the rest of society.
June - July 2022
Lionel ESTEVE
(1967, Lyon, France)
Untitled
2012
@JL Deru - Text: Sophie Zanier
Abandoning the traditional methods for producing artwork, Lionel Estève has developed an artistic approach in which the central focus is the sensory experience of the viewer.
Made of a collection of thousands of translucent sheets suspended in a cascade, his ‘fringe design’ shimmers with luminous vibrations on the walls of the exhibition.
Extremely sensual, this installation arouses our desire to touch it, while inviting us to be lulled by the fragility of the pieces of coloured plastic overflowing from its flat surface.
March-April 2022
Frédéric PLATEUS,
(1976, Liège, Belgium)
Solid Rock
@JL Deru - Text: Sophie Zanier
A leading figure in the Belgian graffiti scene, Frédéric Platéus has had many influences in the development of his artistic career. They include his attraction to technology and his fascination with science-fiction. They are the inspiration behind his three-dimensional creations.
Fascinated by the Rubik's Cube, the artist from Liège explored the infinite formal possibilities of the puzzle by creating, as early as 2007, several interpretations of the original model. Among these, Solid Rock, a geometric feat composed of pyramidal branches unfolding in space, creating an object that seems to be straight out of a science-fiction film.
Platéus also explores the feeling of illusion by integrating mirrors on the walls of his sculpture, allowing him to play with the spectator's perceptions. By moving around the work, the spectator observes both the environment and their own presence reflected on the surface of the sculpture. This gives a feeling of infinite reading to Frédéric Platéus's work.
February 2022
Massimo VITALI,
(1944, Côme, Italy)
Les Menuires Grandes
2000
© JL DERU - Text: Sophie Zanier
The radical political changes in Italy at the beginning of the 1990s inspired photographer Massimo Vitali. Observing his compatriots as they tried to escape the social and economic restrictions, he immortalised them in the idleness of their holiday moments, the photographer immortalised Italians lounging on the beach, skiing down the slopes or partying in discos.
Whatever the theme, the artist's shooting technique remained the same. Inspired by the elevated perspective characteristic of Renaissance paintings, Vitali set up his photographic equipment on a platform four metres above the ground. He observed the stories unfolding and intertwining below and waited until the moment he deemed appropriate to trigger the camera.
The artist believes all the small actions and interactions he captured can ‘help us understand certain aspects of the society in which we live'. Massimo Vitali invites the viewer to look through these teeming images and discover, time and time again, new details that catch the eye, new details that deserve further consideration.
January 2022
SEYDOU KEITA
(1921-2001, Mali)
Pionneer of the
African photography
"Le Géant de Bamako"
1949-1951
Photography
© JL DERU
December 2021
Éric POITEVIN
(1961, France)
Untitled, 2019
Photography
Nature is at the heart of Eric Poitevin's work. He offers us a personal vision of each of his subjects. The way the artist uses colour, the subject matter and point of view represent the essential element of the French photographer's approach. He sublimates each of his shots, capturing images that reward contemplation and meditation.
Produced for an exhibition in Versailles, his ‘sun’ series refers to the Louis XIV, the Sun King. Almost abstract, these photographs evoke the monochrome of minimalist paintings. Eric Poitevin exploits the full visual potential of these solar views with a grey or blue background. An invitation to see what we no longer see... “Our role, as artists, is perhaps to show things where there is nothing to see. Looking is not so simple", he explains.
November 2021
David CUMMINGS
(1937, USA)
Chac, 1971
Spray painting
Influenced in palette and form by Paul Cezanne, the American artist David Cummings works primarily with colour. Active since the 1960s, he has divided his paintings into three distinct series, each composed of hands, clouds and graffiti.
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His spray-painted pieces are a veritable explosion of colour. Entirely covered with undulations created by repeating the same gesture with a spray can, they show an abstract composition similar to those in certain works of action painting.
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The juxtaposition of so many colours also questions the relationship between them. David Cummings makes a bold experiment of this, similar to what a musician might do with notes. His spray technique references the modes of expression in street art.
October 2021
Jacques LIZÈNE
(1946-2021, Liège, Belgique)
Peinture médiocre
1966-1988
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Sculpture nulle
1980-2011
Tribute to Jacques LIZÈNE
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« Petit Maître liégeois de la seconde moitié du XXème siècle»
1946-2021
Septembre 2021
Damien De Lepeleire
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Untitled
(Black & White Series)
Painting: acrylic on canvas
Silhouettes with suggestive shapes: the works in Damien De Lepeleire's Black & White series use very few materials to depict instantly recognisable bodies. For the series, which consists of twenty canvases, De Lepeleire used the same technique throughout: the application of black or white paint on a fluorescent-coloured background to create shapes. This process, which gave the series its title, reveals counter-shapes and large areas of colour.
Working mainly in series, Damien De Lepeleire always sets himself several obligations and constraints. In this case, use of garish colours that directly attract the eye, the size of the Black & White paintings also challenges the viewer. Their creation also required a specific location and rigour. At first glance, the result is simple, clear and effective, like the panels that use advertising codes in the urban landscape. There is no consumerist content in this case, nor any meaning that requires interpretation: the painting exists solely for itself.
July-August 2021
Jacky TSAI
(1984, Shanghai, Chine)
Chinese Spa - Golden Version
2019
Jacky Tsai is passionate about both traditional Oriental art and Western pop art, creating works at the crossroads of these aesthetics and iconographies. This Chinese artist has found a major influence in the works of Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, which he has combined with the culture of his own country. West, East, future, past: everything is brought together in Jacky Tsai's approach. It also develops a political dimension by integrating these heroes, heralds of Western power, into demeaning situations.
In a concern for heritage, Jacky Tsai also uses Chinese craft techniques that are in the process of disappearing. Chinese Spa, presented for AAC #6, was engraved on wood before being painted with lacquer and gold leaf by Chinese craftsmen.
June - July 2021
Emmanuel TAKU
(1986, Accra, Ghana)
Four Brothers in White
2021
The subject of Emmanuel Taku's work is human beings and identity. The message is about living together. The Ghanaian artist combines his passion for portraiture and textiles, combining the two in compositions that blend realism and surrealism. The painted motifs stand out against the monochrome backgrounds thanks to the play of bright colours between the black bodies and the clothing. On the skin, Emmanuel Taku pastes fragments of newspapers referring to the political issues people of colour face in society.
‘For me, capturing black bodies in an abstract form is a kind of bias towards an idea of the supernatural – almost like superheroes and superheroines (some I know and some I don't). Although our bodies are generally politicised, I seek to practise more of the reclamation of our narrative like many great artists before me, by capturing black bodies in a powerful reverence.’