Schönfeld Gallery

La Mort des Amants, curated by Thomas Renwart, Lisa Ijeoma, Werner Mannaers, Les Monseigneurs, Eliza Pepermans, Clémence van Lunen
08 Mai 2021 - 10 Juillet 2021 
May 08, 2021 - July 10, 2021

Nous aurons des lits pleins d’odeurs légères,

Des divans profonds comme
des tombeaux,

Et d’étranges fleurs sur des étagères,

Ecloses pour nous sous
des cieux plus beaux.

Usant à l’envi leurs chaleurs dernières,

Nos deux coeurs seront
deux vastes flambeaux,

Qui réfléchiront leurs doubles lumières

Dans nos deux esprits, ces miroirs jumeaux.

Un soir fait de rose et de bleu mystique,

Nous échangerons un éclair unique,

Comme un long sanglot,
tout chargé d’adieux;

Et plus tard un Ange, entr’ouvrant les portes,

Viendra ranimer, fidèle et joyeux,

Les miroirs ternis et les flammes mortes.

Charles Baudelaire

Inspired by Charles Baudelaire's poem from his legendary collection, Les Fleurs du Mal, Schönfeld Gallery brought five artists together, all having a certain sense for nature in what they create. They develop their imagery through a duality between finiteness and vivacity. Liberation and oppression meet in a symbiosis as the artists enter an artistic dialogue, sometimes harmoniously, sometimes contrariant. The still lifes of Pepermans, the patchworks of Ijeoma, the tapestries of Les Monseigneurs, the sculptures of Van Lunen and the intriguing and engaging works of Werner Mannaers, reconcile each other between hard and soft matter, but all with a special tactility and with the promise of the pictorial narrative. The urge to keep alive what cannot be kept alive is an organic, spontaneous thread running through this highly poetic selection.

Portraits of artists and​ ordinary people, Albert Pepermans

06 Juin 2021 - 06 Juillet 2021 
June 06, 2021 - July 06, 2021

During his entire career, Pepermans has regularly reached back to portraits. While he rarely painted his own face, other known and unknown people - such as Andy Warhol wearing several wigs or David Bowie – do shine on his canvas. Remarkable is the series least wanted, for which Pepermans drew inspiration from the eponymous book. Photographs of numerous American outlaws and bandits dating back to the early forties grabbed Pepermans’ attention, resulting into a series of large and small portraits. 

Just as inspiring for the artist was an exhibition he visited ten years ago at le Musée D’art Moderne Paris, named Deadline. This portrait exhibition was dedicated to known artists from all over the world who shared a painful awareness of the proximity of their death. The youthfulness of some of these artists, like Absalon, deeply touched Pepermans, who decided to portray some of the unfortunates, such as Martin Kippenberger and Jörg Immendorf. While a certain sadness lurks behind the inspirational background of aforementioned series, like in most of his work, color and life thrive in Pepermans’ portraits.