Arpaïs Du Bois

(pour) retendre l’atmosphère

27/02/2021

24/04/2021

Gallery FIFTY ONE

Opening weekend and book launch: Saturday and Sunday, February 27th-28th 2021 from 2 – 6 pm.

Entrance to the gallery is free.

Gallery FIFTY ONE is thrilled to announce Arpaïs Du Bois’ fourth solo show. With an exciting scenography, an atypical explosion of colour, an evolution towards painting and a brand new and beautifully published book, this exhibition marks a new step in Du Bois’ artistic journey that is well worth exploring in person.

An exhibition of Arpaïs Du Bois (Belgium, 1973) is always a spatial experience, and this time it is no different. True to her perpetual search to understand and control the rooms in which she exhibits, the artist reshaped both levels of the gallery space. The walls she imagined and built – from low to high – counter the tunnel-like shape of the volume of the underground level of the gallery. They hinder the visitors in their way, inviting them to stroll around a slalom itinerary at their own pace. The scenography pushes us into an awareness of our obstructed surroundings, which for the artist is an architectural translation of the way she experiences actual society in a broad sense. ’Pour retendre l’atmosphère’, with a wink. One will also find – scattered through the scenography – mock-ups of glasses that echo traces of a vernissage or party, like remnants of previous carefree times.

Next to this intervention in the exhibition space, the faithful followers of Du Bois’ artistic journey may be pleased and surprised by an unexpected explosion of colour in her work that occurred about two years ago. The use of earthly, darkish colours has been a signature aspect of Du Bois’ pictorial output for a long time. It seems, however, that recently the most accurate way for her to deal with global issues – be they notified in the most intimate whispering or bold cry outs – is an addition of saturated colour to her usually somber palette. Her work has also grown more painterly over the last years, leaving the drawing as such behind and investigating the limits of paper. It is therefore with pleasure that we announce that for the first time since many years, works on canvas will be part of the exhibition. They echo Du Bois’ works on paper, forming a common output.

Read the full press release here.

View a full overview of the exhibited works here.

This exhibition is supported by the Flemish Community.

Arpaïs Du Bois

Arpaïs Du Bois approaches man’s being-in-the-world in a very personal and intimate way. Her drawings and texts are at the same time sharp and ambiguous; playful and poetic observations of the world that surrounds her. Out of an intense involvement, she reflects on societal issues, big and small, and the often unnoticed moments and events that shape our lives. Amidst the abundance of impressions that come to us every day, Du Bois’s drawings create a moment of stillness and reflection. They are often syntheses of images, expressing as much as possible with a minimum of resources. They offer the viewer a resting point, a way to frame the chaotic reality.

The content of Du Bois’s exhibitions is generally provided in the form of pages torn from her drawing books arranged in novel constellations, combined with mid-scale and large-scale drawings and paintings on paper.