post-war & contemporary art gallery

post-war &
contemporary art gallery

Mouffe Michel

Mouffe Michel

1957, Brussels

Michel Mouffe explores the foundations of painting by challenging its limits. His works are built up out of many thin coats of paint and glaze, creating translucent layers that veil each other. Meanwhile he steps away from the flatness of the surface by implementing subtle protuberances emerging from behind the canvas, or by bending the work and adding a soft, wavy relief so that it hovers around the fine line between painting and sculpture. As space is marked and the two-dimensionality of the canvas is overcome, his works result in an experience of spatial relationships. The battle between line and colour has been put aside so that the two elements can work hand in hand.

Colour in Mouffe's paintings is subtle and significant — it requires a slowed down gaze in order to see the vibrations of the gradual coloured surface. Lines, bumps, and ripples break the monochrome surfaces as tools that open up, and thus liberate the paintings to give visual expression to the abstract views and ideals of the artist. His works convey sensuality and thought, inviting the viewer to enter into a mutually constructive, psycho-corporeal dialogue, while addressing the limitless space of the painting with all of the viewer's basic senses.

Works

Unique

Les Limites de l’Ange

, 1998
acrylic on shaped canvas,
113 x 113 cm

Biography

Mouffe Michel

1957, Brussels

Michel Mouffe explores the foundations of painting by challenging its limits. His works are built up out of many thin coats of paint and glaze, creating translucent layers that veil each other. Meanwhile he steps away from the flatness of the surface by implementing subtle protuberances emerging from behind the canvas, or by bending the work and adding a soft, wavy relief so that it hovers around the fine line between painting and sculpture. As space is marked and the two-dimensionality of the canvas is overcome, his works result in an experience of spatial relationships. The battle between line and colour has been put aside so that the two elements can work hand in hand.

Colour in Mouffe's paintings is subtle and significant — it requires a slowed down gaze in order to see the vibrations of the gradual coloured surface. Lines, bumps, and ripples break the monochrome surfaces as tools that open up, and thus liberate the paintings to give visual expression to the abstract views and ideals of the artist. His works convey sensuality and thought, inviting the viewer to enter into a mutually constructive, psycho-corporeal dialogue, while addressing the limitless space of the painting with all of the viewer's basic senses.

Michel Mouffe
Born in 1957 in Belgium.
Lives and works in Brussels (Belgium), Le Poët-Laval (France), and La Mola
(Spain).
Since 1983 he has been exhibiting in Europe, the US and Asia.
From 1990 until 1993 he lived and worked in New York.

Selected solo exhibitions
2023
Passa la vida, Espai Cultural i Educatiu, Far de la Mola, Formentera, Spain
La Patinoire Royale - Galerie Valerie Bach, Brussels, Belgium
A Thousand Uplands, Galerie Faider, Brussels, Belgium
Galerie Eric Linard, Le Val des Nymphes, Drôme, France
2021
Nebel, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Kanaal, Antwerp, Belgium

2020
Welt und Nebel, Galerie Alber, Cologne, Germany

2019
A las cinco de la tarde, travelling exhibition until 2020 (Sa Senieta, San Francesc
Xavier, Formentera, Spain; Casa Consistorial, Ibiza, Spain)
Les larmes de Saint Pierre, permanent installation, Musée L, Louvain-la-Neuve,
Belgium
2018-2019
Drawings, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Hong Kong
2018
Thinking the Veil, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium

2017
Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
Els Pelegrins, Sala de exposiciones Ajuntament Vell, San Francesc Javier,
Formentera, Iles Baleares, Spain
2016
Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Hong Kong
2015
Jean Roch Dard Gallery, Paris, France
2012
Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
2011
Galerie Faider, Brussels, Belgium

2010
Barby, BeLa Editions, Brussels, Belgium
2009
Les Pascaliniens, Galerie Faider, Brussels, Belgium

2007
Last Balls, Anouk Vilain Art Gallery, Diepenbeek, Belgium
Eloge des profondeurs, texts of Bernard Maingain and drawings by Michel
Mouffe, Brussels, Belgium
2006
Aisthesis, Galerie Faider Bruxelles, Belgium
Negen Punt Negen, Roeselare, Belgium

2005
Monos Art Gallery, Liège, Belgium
La maison Fraeyman du Centre Culturel de Mouscron, Brussels, Belgium
Ball Paintings, Grange du Faing, Centre d’Art Contemporain du Luxembourg
Belge, Luxembourg, Belgium

2004
Affinité, Centre Historique-Angle Art Contemporain, Saint-Paul-Trois Chateaux,
France
Galerie Geukens - De Vil, Knokke, Belgium

2003
Galerie Martagon, Malaucène, France
Galerie Synopsis M, Lausanne, Swizerland

2002-2003
Station de Métro Erasme, Brussels, Belgium (with Philippe Samyn)
Ethnic Design, Miami, USA

2002
Etre au fond, ISELP, Brussels, Belgium
Habitare, Vedovi Gallery, Brussels ; La Closerie, Knokke, Belgium
Iselp, Brussels, Belgium
2001
Galerie Alain Winance, Tournai, Belgium
En s’occupant d’Erasme..., Chapelle de Boendael, Brussels, Belgium
Zorgen voor Erasmus, Musée de Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium
Galerie Geukens - De Vil, Knokke, Belgium

2000
Marijke Schreurs, Brussels, Belgium
Chambre de Séjour avec Vue, Luberon, France
House Gallery, Ibiza, Spain
Orion Gallery, Brussels, Belgium

1998
Vedovi Gallery, Brussels, Belgium

1997
Anouk Vilain Gallery, Hasselt, Belgium

1996
Gallery Seo Hwa, Seoul, South-Korea

1994
Galerie 15, Paris, France

1993
Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, Paris, France

1992
Partie II : 1990 - 1992, Galerie Christine & Isy Brachot, Bruxelles, Belgium
Entre 2, Galerie Christine & Isy Brachot, Paris, France

1991
Partie I : 1980 - 1989, Galerie Christine & Isy Brachot, Brussels, Belgium
1990
Défi au rouge, bleu, jaune, Galerie Christine & Isy Brachot, Brussels, Belgium
Galerie Verplanck-Van Bavel, Brugge, Belgium

1989
Galerie Christine & Isy Brachot, Paris, France

1988
Galerie Christine & Isy Brachot, Brussels, Belgium
Monographies d’Artistes, Médiatine, Woluwé-St-Lambert, Belgium
Galerie Sophia Ungers, Köln, Germany

1986
Maison de la Culture, Namur, Belgium

1985
MMH Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Musée d’Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium

1984
Tryptique, Kaai Theater, Brussels, Belgium

1983
Peintures 82 83, Maison Guiette - Le Corbusier, Antwerp, Belgium

Selected group exhibitions

2022
Avant que j’oublie, Ixelles, Belgium
Brushstrokes and Beyond, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Hong Kong
Argent, 25 jaar Anouk Vilain Galerie, Anouk Vilain Galerie, Diepenbeek, Belgium
Michel Mouffe, Willy Anthoons, Jan Bursens, Denmark, Vic Gentils, Willy De
Sauter, Maurice Verbaet, Knokke, Belgium
A Taste of Abstraction, Postmodern Abstract Painting In Belgium, La Patinoire
Royale, Brussels, Belgium
2021
Breaking into Colour, Gallery Zero, VOMA, virtual museum
#4004, Alber Gallery, Koln, Germany
Silence and Space, Kanaal, Wijnegem, Belgium
Le cadavre exquis, Chiesetta della Misericordia, Venice, Italy

2019
Collection #1, Bibliotheca Wittockiana, Brussels, Belgium
Encre, plume, fusain. Donation Fonds Meeùs, Musée L, UCLouvain, Belgium

2018
Promesses d'un visage, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels,
Belgium
Salle des pas perdus, Doc, Paris, France
20 Years NICC - JUBILEE, Antwerp, Belgium
Museum to Scale 1/7, Universiteit Antwerpen, B (permanent collection)

2017
INTUITION, Axel & May Vervoordt Foundation, Fondazione Musei Civici di
Venezia, Palazzo Fortuny, Venice, Italy.
Oh les beaux jours! Contemporary art biennale, Louvain la Neuve, Belgium,
curated by Joel Benzakin & Angel Vergara
2016-2017
Moderniteit à la belge, Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium

2016
100 Artistes en Liberté, Musée Juif de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium
ArtParis, Paris, France (with Galerie Faider, Brussels)

2015-2016
Belgi Barbari e Poeti, Espace Vandenborre, Brussels, Belgium
2015
Belgi Barbari e Poeti, Museo d'Arte Contemporanea di Roma, Rome, Italy
2014
Contemporary Art in Belgium, for UNICEF, Cornette de St. Cyr, Brussels,
Belgium

2013
Wunderkammer, Academia Belgica, Rome, Italy
Museum To Scale, online platform by Ronny Van de Velde, partners with Royal
Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Kunsthal Rotterdam and Artis Naples

2012
Collateral Damage (with Enric Majoral), BeLa Editions, Brussels, Belgium
Sense of Colours, Keitelman Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Galleria Plurima, Udine, Italy
Treize peintres et moi, Valerie Bach Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
God’s Gravity, San Fransisco, Formentera, Spain
God’s Gravity, Bela, Brussels, Belgium

2011-2012
Wunderkammer, Botanique, Brussels, Belgium

2011
25 ans, Artistes , Œuvres, Musée de Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium
TRA, Palazzo Fortuny, Venice, Italy
AnySpace, Brussels, Belgium

2010
Passé-Présent #2, Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire du Cinquantenaire,
Brussels, Belgium
Deux Cent Cinquante #3, Galerie Antonio Nardone, Brussels, Belgium
Axel Vervoordt Gallery
www.axelvervoordtgallery.com
3 artistes de la galerie Faider, Galerie Linz, Paris, France
L'art abstrait en Belgique dans la collection Dexia, Dexia, Brussels, Belgium

2009
Deux Cent Cinquante #2, Galerie Antonio Nardone, Brussels, Belgium

2008
Honorons Honoré, De Garage, Mechelen, Belgium

2007
Zone de turbulences, Centre Culturel Wolu-Culture, Woluwe, Belgium
Derniers encodages, Contemporary Art Museum, Eupen, Belgium
Abstractions Construites en Communauté Française de Belgique, de 1980 à nos
jours, Parlement de la Communauté Française, Brussels, Belgium
2004
Galerie Monos, Liège, Belgium
100 ans de dessin, Maison du Peuple, St Gilles, Belgium
2003
Abstractions, Un siècle d’art en Wallonie et à Bruxelles, Le Botanique, Bruxelles,
Belgium

2002
100 artistes pour 100 ans de Droits de l’Homme, Palais de justice, Brussels,
Belgium
Perspective Contemporaine 2002, Galerie Vedovi, Bruxelles, B Galerie Orion,
Oostende, Belgium

2001
575 ans de la Fondation de l’Université, Musée de Louvain La Neuve, Louvain La
Neuve, Belgium
Group Show, Galerie Geukens - De Vil, Knokke, Belgium
Almost White, Maurice Keitelman Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
100 coups de coeur/ De Hartveroverende 100, Espace Generali, Hôtel
Wielemans, Brussels, Belgium
Gros plan sur le design belge, La Ferme de l’Abbaye de la Ramée, Jauchelette,
Belgium
Galerie Orion, Oostende, Belgium
Ici et Maintenant, 100 Ateliers 100 Jours, curated by Laurent Jacob, Tour & Taxis,
Brussels, Belgium
Espaces de convergences/espaços de convergências, Centro Culturel de Cascais
& Casa Municipal da Cultura Cantanhede, Portugal
Evolution révolution, Le numérique nouveau medium de l’art, Chateau Malou et
Médiatine, Brussels, Belgium

2000
Le fil rouge 3, Biennale d’Art Contemporain, Louvain, Belgium
Fondation Bolly-Charlier, Huy, Belgium
Contemporary Art From Belgium, European Central Bank, Frankfurt, German
Eigentijdse Kunst, Art Contemporain, Lieux Communs, Bruxelles, Belgium

1999
Noir et Blanc, Marijke Schreurs, Bruxelles, Belgium
Libertés, libertés chéries ou l’art comme résistance à l’art, ISELP, Brussels, Belgium
1998
Noord/Zuid, Nord/Sud, Ninove, Belgium
Studio Simonis, Paris, France

1994-1996
Confrontations-Confrontaties, Musée d’Ixelles, Universiteitshal Leuven, Musée
d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain, Liège, Centre Culturel Marius Staquet,
Mouscron, The Chase Manhattan Bank, Luxembourg, Johannesburg, South
Africa, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin, de Warande, Turnhout, Belgium

1994
KIAD, Canterbury & Maidstone, UK

1993
Marian Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, USA
L’Art en Belgique depuis 1980, Musée d’Art Moderne, Bruxelles, Belgium
B’Art Code, Arsenal du Charroi, Bruxelles, Belgium
Europe Sans Frontières, Galerie Christine & Isy Brachot, Bruxelles, Belgium
Centre A, Borschette des Communautés Européennes, Bruxelles, Belgium
Confrontations-Confrontaties, ’t Elzenveld, Cultureel Centrum, Antwerpen,
Belgium

1992
6ième Festival of Pusan, Pusan, Korea
Art Actuel III, Amnesty International, Bruxelles, Belgium
Painterly Objects, S.Bitter-Larkin Gallery, New-York, USA

1991
Orientation 50° Nord, Ecole Kinryu, Tokyo, Japan
Signes de Belgique, Musée d’Art Moderne de Taïpei, Taïwan
National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea
Galerie Verplancke - Van Bavel, Brugge, Belgium
Vis-à-vis. Le miroir des Galeries, Anciens Etablissements Sacrés, Liège, Belgium
Dynamiques Contemporaines, Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, Paris, France
Résonances Contemporaines en Communauté Française, Centre d’Art
Contemporain, Bruxelles, Belgium

1990
34ième Salon d’Art Contemporain de Montrouge, Paris, France
Petite suite de variations, Musée du Petit format, Mariembourg, Belgium
Red, Galerie Christine & Isy Brachot, Bruxelles, Belgium
Cent ans d’Art belge, Grande Arche de la Défense, Paris, France

1989
Fascination - Sentiment de catastrophe, Botanique, Brussels, Belgium
Incidents de Parcours, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
Musée du Petit Format de Papier, Couvin, Belgium

1988
Objectif 1992, Galerie Lamaignière, Saint Germain, Paris, France
33ième Salon d’Art Contemporain de Montrouge, Revue d’Art Contemporain,
Paris, France
La couleur seule : l’Expérience du Monochrome, Musée Saint Pierre d’Art
Contemporain, Lyon, France
1987
Abstraction ’87, Maison de la Culture, Namur, Belgium
Parcours, Maison des Artistes, Brussels, Belgium
Parcours, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels, Belgium
1985
Who’s Afraid 85, Studio Rue de l’Eglise, St.Gilles, Belgium
1984
Ma clé est belle (performance), Musée d’Art Moderne de Bruxelles, Brussels,
Belgium

Monographies
Michel Mouffe and Joël Benzakin, Alphabet (Ghent: AsaMER/ Antwerp: Axel
Vervoordt Gallery: 2017);
Michel Baudson, Marie-Ange Brayer, Michel Ceder, Jacques Meuris and
Marc Hotermans, Michel Mouffe (Brussels: Editions Labor and Editions Isy
Brachot, 1992).
Denise Thiel-Hennaux and Solange Wonner, Michel Mouffe (Brussels:
Médiatine, 1988).
Public Collections
Axel and May Vervoordt Foundation, Belgium
Belfius Bank, Belgium
Buycksan Group Museum, Seoul, South Korea
Collection Paribas, Switzerland
Deutsche Bank, Germany
Hainaut Province Collection, Belgium
M HKA Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp, Belgium
Musée d’Ixelles, Ixelles, Belgium
Musée L, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium
National Bank of Belgium, Belgium
PMMK Provincial Museum of Modern Art/ Mu.ZEE, Oostende, Belgium
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Museum of Modern Art Collection,
Brussels, Belgium

post-war & contemporary art gallery

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