Alice Mogabgab gallery presents a solo show of Aurélie Salavert

The Brussels gallery Alice Mogabgab presents a solo exhibition of the French artist Aurélie Salavert (lives and works in Brussels). What ? is the title of Salavert’s fifth solo exhibition in the Belgian capital, and the first at Galerie Alice Mogabgab - Brussels, created in collaboration with Véronique de Bellefroid.

Every painting by Aurélie Salavert, every drawing, gouache, collage or watercolour on paper is a fresh interpretation of the world. If the works take inspiration from multiple pictorial, literary, scientific or popular references, they nonetheless remain unclassifiable on the contemporary art scene. Aurélie Salavert, for her part, does not classify them either – having neither titles nor dates these paintings are moments of wonder at life. And the artist regularly shares these moments on her Instagram account, receiving in return hearts and emojis, signs of amazement and wonder. 

Aurélie Salavert is looking for something, at times something different. To our joy she often finds something, and when she doesn’t, we’re happy being lost with her. Her work is an exploration. A long path of simplicity that never approaches naivety. You have to be precise when tracing this path, and so yellow must be YELLOW, a child must be a CHILD, etc. The various scenes, the abstractions, the collages, everything is very real along the route. The only thing that matters is whether or not we believe in this path. ​ The nature of our belief in the images that Aurélie Salavert has marked out here and there. ​
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​— Stéphane CALAIS, ​ text for the exhibition Une expédition at the Fondation Ricard, Paris, 2009. 

Aurélie Salavert
​What?
​12 May - 29 June 2019
​Alice Mogabgab Brussels
​Private view Sunday 12 May, 15.00 – 19.00

The exhibition runs until 29 June, Thursday – Saturday, 14.00 – 18.00, and by appointment.

Aurélie Salavert, born in Avignon in 1966, graduated from the Ecole Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Marseille in 1990. She lives and works in Brussels.

In 1992, she received a grant from the DRAC Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur – Ministry of Culture. Her first solo exhibition took place in 1995 at the Galerie Athanor in Marseille. In 2002, the Calvet museum in Avignon exhibited Salavert’s work next to works on paper by Rodin, Degas, Chagall and Toulouse-Lautrec. The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue entitled De toi à moi, gathering together works by Aurélie Salavert. In 2008 she began her collaboration with the Galerie aliceday de Brussels. Since then, a number of French public institutions have enriched their collections with paintings by this artist. In 2011 the Fond Régional d’Art Contemporain (Paris) acquired 10 works, in 2015 the Artothèque d’Angers, and in 2019, the Fond National d’Art Contemporain (France) acquired a total of 12 works.

Some maté, acacia honey and a few roll-ups is the title of the booklet in four languages (French, Dutch, English and Arabic) accompanying the exhibition. The text is written by Philippe Bertels. The book is designed and printed by the Editions de la Galerie.

Philippe Bertels is a writer, art critic and designer, born in Belgium in 1959. Renowned in Brussels as an “art lover and long-standing observer of the world of art, its customs and institutions” he published in 2016 Le Gardien (Editons Keymousse and 494), a novel accompanied by twenty-five original drawings which he exhibited at the CNEAI de Chatou, in France, and at the Chapitre XII in Brussels the same year. In 2017, he wrote Nœud gordien for “Novelty Ltd”, an exhibition by Mahéo and Douglas Eynon at La Verrière, Fondation d’Entreprise Hermès in the Belgian capital, Le plantigrade de Roosevelt for “Total Reel”, an exhibition by Douglas Eynon at the Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, and Bouh ! a book collaboration with Aurélie Salavert, published in Brussels by Editions 494. In 2018, he wrote Occupation, for “Imusai… “, an exhibition by Alec De Busschère, Maison Grégoire, and in 2019, Du maté, du miel d’acacia et quelques clopes roulées for the exhibition by Aurélie Salavert at the Galerie Alice Mogabgab – Brussels.