Invitation to the Exhibition: “Chasing Light: Still Lives”

21/11 – 01/12/2024

The idea of curating an exhibition around Still Life has been on my mind for months, perhaps even years. It’s a subject close to my heart, representing scenes of life that invite us to imagine a home, a family, fleeting moments — simple, yet meaningful moments. This connection to still life painting began early; my grandfather, an amateur painter and professional photographer, painted many still lifes that filled our childhood. Fascinatingly, these scenes are not truly “still,” or perhaps the term “still life” serves to counterbalance the invisible activity that seems to stir around them.

The inspiration for this exhibition was rekindled during my visit to the Goulandris Foundation in Athens, where I encountered Vincent Van Gogh’s Still Life with Coffee Pot, painted in 1888.

Still, Life, Coffee Pot, 1888, Vincent Van Gogh

The light radiating from the canvas — a luminosity born from Van Gogh’s time in the Yellow House in Arles — captivated me. He used pure, spot colours that expressed his mood and emotions. The beauty of this painting, visible from across the room, filled the space with a striking glow.

Throughout history, many renowned artists with their masterful techniques have painted still lifes: Cézanne, Dalí, Monet, even Warhol with his pop art interpretation. Today, Subtile has invited 17 artists to create a still life inspired by their own vision, with a dominant theme of yellow — evoking light, purity, gold, or even the divine. All disciplines are represented, with a diverse and extraordinary creativity brought together by this collective: painting, photography, sculpture, ceramics, paper, textile, metal… a vibrant mix of luminous, simple, and poetic emotions awaits you from November 21st to December 1st.

An authentic still life is born the day a painter makes the fundamental decision to choose a group of objects as the subject and to organize them into a plastic entity. The fact that he imbues them with all sorts of spiritual allusions depending on the time and environment in which he works does not change his profound artistic intention: that of imposing upon us his poetic emotion in front of the beauty he has glimpsed in these objects and their arrangement. (Still Life from Antiquity to the Present, 1952) – Charles Sterling

Marie Versteylen

Artists Participating (replied to a Call for Participation in September on social networks), describing in five words what ‘still life’ evokes for the:

Alena Gastaldi (Painting)

Anthony Gralhien (Painting and collage) Recomposed Nature Souvenirs

Christel Fournier (Painting)

Galerie Damien Coméliau (Belgian Post-war painters)

Hélène et José Ebel (collage): Academicism I Vanity I Gravity I Abundance I Exuberance

Laurence de Tapol Nesson (photo) : Poetic and moving interpretation of a seemingly inanimate scene

Lilian Mombach (Paper Sculpture) : Transformation I Introspection I Interaction I Essence 

Marianne Steinmetzer (Ceramic): Flemish Masters  I Lily Unden  I Melancholy  I Metaphor  I Withdrawal into oneself. 

Marie de Decker (Sculpture – Object): Eternity I Renaissance I Sacred I Contemplation I Cycle

Marie Versteylen (Painting) : Calm I softness I hope I continuity I halt

Marie-Odile Turk (Painting)

Massimo Beni (Painting): 

Oriane Bruyat (Painting)

Paule Lemmer (Painting)

Phil Deken (Photo) : The Loveliest Lie of All

Sandra Resende (Textile) : Time I Memory I Transformation I Materiality I Immortality

Valentin Bony Design (Design): The Sublimation of Everyday Objects

What is your vision of still life? What do these proposed works evoke for you? Do you appreciate the color yellow in art and design? How do you see the evolution of still life in art? Come share your emotions and understanding of this style during the two weeks of our exhibition!

Edgar Scauflaire, Galerie Damien Coméliau.

Massimo Beni

Marie-Odile Turk

Alena Gastaldi

Anthony Gralhien

Lilian Mombach

Marie De Decker

Join us for the opening party with DJ MAXDO (Luxembourg) on November 21 from 7 to 11pm, where you will have the opportunity to meet the artists and don’t forget to wear a touch of Yellow !

The exhibition will be open daily from 11 AM to 6 PM from Wed-Saturday and Sunday 24/11 and 1/12 1 to 5pm, offering a chance to immerge yourself in this art genre that spans thousands of years, from Ancient Egypt still-life frescoes carver and painted by anonymous artists to sixteenth-century Dutch artists who made still-life painting a legitimate art form and the nineteenth-century French painters that started the Impressionist movement.

BY ASSISTING TO OUR EVENTS, YOU UNDERSTAND THAT PHOTOS WILL BE TAKEN AND THAT SOME MIGHT BE PUBLISHED ON SOME MEDIA.

We recommend you register for the opening party. Free Drinks will be served until supplies last.