Anthology

Anthology illustrates the spirit of a place and a work without sacrifice, driven by eclectic choices, always guided by a strong sense of detail and minimal ornament, by materials, by history and by the singularity of rare gestures. It’s a snapshot of a relentlessly demanding approach, interested in all forms of creation so that the art of collecting becomes the art of recounting immobile journeys.

Like a selection of past inspirations, Anthology presents emblematic pieces of furniture from the emerging Belgian and French scene promoted by SINOPLE, previously unseen pieces by designer Elias Van Orshaegen, and emblematic editions from the gallery, including the table by architect Hugo Haas, created in collaboration with Atelier Chatersen and now part of the French national collections (Mobilier National). Among works of art inspired by Nature and photographs by artists represented and invited (Alexandre Aldavert, Marie Cécile Thijs – courtesy Galerie XII) that blur the boundaries with the graphic arts a little more, these productions illustrate the breaking down of walls between creative disciplines, and reflect current trends in collectible design and functional art, between experimentation, function and conceptual or sculptural ambitions.
For the occasion, the anonymous architect and author of generative art Jean-Jacques Balzac has signed a series of images that confront artificial intelligence with a place more than ever marked by reality and materiality. The symbolic portrait illustrating the exhibition embodies a particularly inspiring thought for the gallery’s founders, borrowed from Huysmans: ‘What was the good of moving, when a man can travel so gloriously sitting in a chair?’ (Against Nature (A rebours), chap. XI)