Renaissance curated by Jesse Willems Schönfeld Gallery turns its gaze towards 'renaissance': first with the duo exhibition Jesse Willems & Magda Amarioarei at the Schönfeld Gallery Brussels, then with Jesse Willems & Babs Decruyenaere at Schönfeld Projects Antwerp. The Antwerp artist Jesse Willems is the curator of these two dialogues. Each time he chose an artist from the city where the captivating interaction is visible. The title 'renaissance', written with a modest little 'r', sends a message of hope and optimism. The word should be taken literally as a new birth. Since the time of the Renaissance, it has been synonymous with revival, cultural proliferation, innovative designs. Going forward, that's what it is. How does a company that has been shut down restart? Are we just picking up on things or are they changing? The exhibition project does not intend to focus on the impact of confinement on the work of artists, but rather on its influence on the future: the opportunity and the need for a new beginning. Is it really possible to make a whole new start? These are three very different artistic practices. Jesse Willems makes collages with found paper, now with more colors and in a larger format. Babs Decruyenaere works with her archives: stones, shells, driftwood and other finds she collects. Magda Amarioarei exhibits new ceramic paintings and sculptures. In their own way, they seem to have a connection with abstraction and with time; wear to the test of time, primitive forces or history. Tradition, erosion, the chaos that surrounds us: their art manages to transform this into an invigorating work. Jesse Willems on 'rebirth' "The whole world was faced with a start-stop button, which was pushed. How do we restart? Do we start over as before or do we manage our time and our life more consciously “This is the theme of 'rebirth', explains Jesse Willems. Whether in his collages, drawings or photographs, he has always been attentive to things that most people don't notice. He captures the beauty of our world through abstraction. His recent collages are again made with found paper, material he usually brings back from flea markets. The use of colored paper from old family photo albums sheds more color and optimism in his collages. Even when working with white scraps of paper, they are never white again. So the passing of time also appears. Before confinement, Jesse Willems had barely stocked himself. had to deal with c e he had on hand: "The angle of approach has something of arte povera, a parsimony, a search for minimalism which means that only the really necessary elements are used and the rest is neglected. Realizing that 'just enough' is more than 'too much' is what I hope to take away from this period. For me, beauty is an escape from the chaos that surrounds us. It has always been so. I can't stand compromise: it can satisfy everyone, but no one is completely satisfied. In my work, I can do everything as I please. "Renaissance Jesse Willems & Magda Amarioarei at the Schönfeld Gallery Brussels Jesse Willems and Magda Amarioarei did not know each other. The title 'renaissance' was born during an intense conversation about our time Magda Amarioarei on 'renaissance': “In my eyes, the title 'renaissance' is closely linked to nature, to the rhythm of life. A rebirth is a positive moment after a crisis and the questioning that it has or not aroused, a moment when everything takes shape and regains its momentum. Jesse's work plays hard on contrasts, with dark shadows and light. A rebirth can also be about the discovery of something new, which enlightens us about ourselves and our life. But not in the Renaissance sense in the 15th century, when perspective was defined. The rebirths that we are now experiencing are more modest and less radical. "Magda Amarioarei on her artistic practice:" For ten years now, my painting has been revolving around the landscape. I grew up in Romania in the middle of nature. But I am not literally starting from a landscape. In recent years it's more about human nature, about human life. According to Carl Gustav Jung, the psyche is formed by the evolution of nature. This is my starting point. What I seek and explore is a space for reflection, an interior space, a psychological space too. We see a sort of cultural conflict of surfaces, transparencies, touches and often contrasting colors, the opposition between emptiness and fullness, height and depth. There are many references to nature thanks to colors, textures and sometimes a skyline. We recognize things and we imagine them, it is on the border between the recognizable and the unrecognizable. My ceramic sculptures also evoke contrasts. I make the same shape twice. For me, they are opposing poles, in a certain sense opposing psychic poles, that I am bringing together. The sculptures look like ritual objects, but they don't really have a function. "What does Jesse Willems expect from this dialogue?" In my work, I keep more and more aside the superfluous, while his paintings sometimes seem very exuberant. But she works soberly, in an almost spartan way. I like it. The colors can be very contrasting or at the very least surprising and I love the way she uses clay. I am really a fan of his sculptures, I see something of Brancusi's totems in them. I'm curious to see how our works will interact. "Renaissance Jesse Willems & Babs Decruyenaere at Schönfeld Projects Antwerp The two artists have known each other for a long time but have never exhibited together. Babs Decruyenaere collects stones, pieces of driftwood or various woods, shells and other finds. A growing collection of natural materials and shapes. She uses them to make kinds of photograms and a host of compositions, structures and mobiles. Babs Decruyenaere about of her artistic practice: "I am attracted by raw landscapes, fascinated by stone and everything that the ocean spits out. What I find on a trip, I take to my workshop. I had planned to leave this summer, but given the current circumstances, I stayed at home. So it will be a trip in my head, in my imagination. The abstraction of a trip that I will not take. The analogue photo prints, always made without a camera and negative, are created with lights and shapes that refer to places I have visited in the past. I only use my memories and archives of materials found on previous trips. "Babs Decruyenaere on 'rebirth':" For me the title 'rebirth' does not refer to a rebirth in the literal sense, but to sense of a search for another way of thinking and working. Over the years, I have built up an archive of stones, pieces of wood and other materials which I examined with a magnifying glass in my workshop. In the deeper analysis of these forms and structures - on the borderline of abstraction, graphic representations and formal compositions - I see links to Jesse's work. “What does Jesse Willems expect from this dialogue?” Some of our works complement each other very strongly, with a lot in common, while others confront each other. Even though there are many oppositions, our works reinforce each other. I like the way Babs works. It is very tactile and often very fragile. The materials that make up his mobiles are so light that they dance continuously. When hung near my static artwork, they almost make them move. She has now also started working with bits of plastic that she had at home. These shapes and textures seem to emerge from nature in photograms. I also find that his photograms are becoming more and more abstract and simple. The work with what we have on hand and the search for minimalism, which I do a lot now, I find them at her place. "