Belgian artists at COLLECT
COLLECT the international art fair for contemporary objects will soon be back for its twelfth anniversary at the Saatchi Gallery.
Presented by the Crafts Council, it covers the fields of ceramics, glass, precious metal, textiles and furniture with a selection of 35 galleries from Europe, Asia and North America.
Among the participants, the WCC-BF, an organization promoting more than 200 craft makers and artists from the Belgian region, Brussels Wallonia will return this year to present eight imaginative and talented artists: four jewellery makers and four ceramists.
Nelly van Oost, finalist in the Mari Funaki Award 2014, organized by the Melbourne based gallery Funaki recognised as a driving force in the promotion of contemporary jewellery, is among the jewellery artists. She will show her sculptural, expansionist network of suspended clusters available in gold, silver and nickel.
Dorothee Van Biesen, a Professor in the textile and tapestry department of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Liège will present theatrical art pieces made out from textile.
Claire Lavendhomme, a contemporary jewellery teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts of Arlon will bring her subtle, poetic and mysterious creations to the show.
Nevin Arig will show her latest works, natural and organic compositions balancing Eastern and Western influences. Born in Turkey, Arig followed her studies in the Fine Arts Academy in Istanbul. She said being “inspired everyday by the contrasts of a vast country; torn between Europe and Asia, a mixture of Byzantium and Ottoman architecture, fragrances of spices, screams of children and the murmurs of a metropolis... “
The list of ceramic artists brought this year from Wallonia includes Antonino Spoto with his vibrant and colourful ceramics in pure organic shapes. Spoto has been a practicing Belgian physician specializing in anesthesiology who studied at Académie des Beaux-Arts in Charleroi. He has been a student of Jean-Claude Legrand, also represented this year at the fair.
Jean Claude Legrand’s mystical compositions consist of incised squares striking in their simplicity incised with shifted parts in coppers and bluish greys.
Nathalie Doyen will exhibit this year her impressive embroidery-like ceramics and Fabienne Withofs will show her sculptures covered by fine decorative patterns, inspired by a world of fantasy and poetry.
Design Flanders, which promotes contemporary design from Flanders, is another organization that will present Belgian artists this year at the fair.
Also new to the fair this year will be a specially curated exhibition of jewellery entitled “ I AM HERE” featuring pieces from the Craft Council’s own collection alongside other pieces on loan which will travel together to regional museums within the UK.
WCC-BF will be located in Stand: 3.2 of Collect at the Saatchi Gallery from 8-11 May 2015.
