Butcher, Kavula, Jolly Installation view
Eric Butcher, T/R. 1026
Bonolo Kavula, detail
Valerie Jolly, Les Idees

We are delighted to present a group exhibition featuring works by Eric Butcher, Valerie Jolly and Bonolo Kavula in our Brussels showroom at Avenue Van Volxem 333. The featured artists explore themes of memory, materiality, and transformation through the manipulations of paper, textiles and paint. Eric Butcher’s recent work reflects a reconsideration of his past practice viewed through the prism of environmental concerns. Bonolo Kavula intricately reconstructs cultural narratives through the application of the Shweshwe fabric, embedding historical and familial memories within minimalist compositions. Valérie Jolly’s ethereal paper sculptures, which replicate everyday objects, evoke a sense of impermanence, questioning the nature of presence and absence. Together, these artists navigate the tension between creation and disintegration, inviting to reconsider how materials and processes shape our understanding of history, culture, and identity

Eric Butcher (b. 1970, Singapore) develops his current body of work by deliberately deconstructing previous works, reflecting a deep investigation into his studio practice and a response to mounting environmental anxieties. Confronted by a global ecological crisis, Butcher found his former artistic approach increasingly self-centred and indulgent. In response, he embarked on a forensic-like dismantling of his previous works, dismantling them both intellectually and physically. The paint was peeled from aluminium supports and categorised into a basic taxonomy. These skins, fragments, and traces are now displayed between sheets of glass, reminiscent of scientific specimens, forming a kind of "natural history" of his artistic journey.

Interested in cultural, colonial, and historical themes, Bonolo Kavula (b. 1992, South Africa) creates intricate minimalist objects using textiles, paper cutouts, and thread. Her works consist of geometric systems of connected tiny, punched circles of Shweshwe fabric or paper. By using printed dyed cotton textiles, common in traditional Southern African clothing, to create abstract imagery, Kavula challenges conventional representations of her culture subverting traditional imagery. Her use of material is deeply tied to the artist’s family memories and traditions. The labour-intensive and repetitive process of connecting miniature dots, each with its own pattern elements, conveys the idea of creating a new meaning through deconstruction and transformation.

Valérie Jolly (b. 1964, France) explores aspects of perception and materiality through her sculptural practice. She uses everyday objects as moulds to create weightless, colourless paper sculptures that replicate their originals Or seemingly voluminous installations that are light and ephemeral on closer inspection. Fascinated by the phenomenology of cognitive research and the evocative power of traces, Jolly questions the nature of reality and how we perceive it. Her sculptures, three-dimensional imprints of industrial or natural objects, suggest the existence of these forms in different places and times, playing with ideas of memory and transience.

Profile

News

Fairs & Events

Upcoming