A fashion & design walk through Brussels

Whether it be through a process of thoughtful and careful ennobling and enriching of each constitutive element (Jofroi Amaral), through simple subversive gestures or bold enhancing (Deborah Bowmann), the seemingly useful and doubling of a functional object or the paradoxical semantic subversion of the original source, all the proposals presented by the artists whom we have selected for the MAD parcours in resonance to (Not) All Is Gold acquire a new aesthetic status, often paired with an increasing financial strength / intrinsic worth.

All the details of Jofroi Amaral’s bicycle, which he ordered, customized and labour-intensively assembled all by himself, from tailor-made steel to delicately tattooed prime quality leather, unambiguously position it in the art sphere.

Whilst the artefact does remain functional, it acquires an intrinsic aesthetic and financial value (it is offered for sale for 30 000 euros) which no doubt would deter its potential owner from using it as a city bike.

Deborah Bowmann collect and assemble found or personal objects to create somehow frozen and defunctionalized sculptural compositions by the simple act of flocking to create semi-ready-made sculptures.

In their series of The Joy of Painting  they just magnify a series of small canvases found and acquired by artist Charles Benjamin at the flea market by inserting them in a magnificent frame, which immediately expands and multiplies the aesthetic and commercial value of the original painting.

Valentin Souquet confers  the handrail of Cloud Seven’s main staircase with a new height, expanding it through a wonderfully organically carved extension. Whilst this could be interpreted as a way to adapt a 19th century bannister to contemporary body types, it is undoubtedly also perceived as a very sensual and eroticised aesthetic extension to the functional element. 

In Eléonore Joulin’s creative universe, it is the expressive subversion of the iconographical source, reminiscent of 18th century prototypes, combined to a paradoxical and trompe-l’oeil approach to materiality, which translate functional objects such as lamps and vases into a slightly surrealist realm. Cheeses and sausages become lamps, cabbage leaves become slippers, …

Wednesday 12 November 12:00-21:00: opening in presence of the artists 
Thursday-Saturday 13-15 November 12:00-18:00