Artists

Fabrice Souvereyns

Press release

In our world, communication unfolds in countless ways. Fabrice Souvereyns is fascinated by dualities, such as the visible and the invisible. Beneath the ground, mycelium, a complex network of fungal threads, connects trees and plants to one another. Above ground, electromagnetic signals such as radio waves and Wi-Fi drift through the air. Two worlds converge: nature and technology. Both are connected through networks that largely elude our perception. At the heart of Souvereyns’ practice is the series Erased and Not Erased. A pencil, an eraser and a craft knife are his only tools. The pressure of the pencil on paper varies from hard to soft, while the line hover between fragile and deep indentations. Fragments are drawn and then erased again. The work undergoes constant transformation. In his primordial landscapes, he explores natural phenomena such as wind, fire, water and earth. Animals appear here and there, alongside floral still lifes and botanical worlds. The drawings can be read as visual diaries, as archives of feelings, memories and thoughts that emerge during the act of making. On the back of each sheet, the artist records words and sentences relating to the period in which he is working on that drawing. Once the drawing is framed, these notes vanish from view, sealed away like the pages of an inaccessible diary. What remains is the drawing: the bearer of a history that can never be fully reconstructed. Titles such as Worth Wondering, Protecting, Three Trees of Miracles and Tomorrow We Will Leave as One evoke associations while leaving room for personal interpretation. In this exhibition, the drawings are accompanied by new supports and materials. For the first time, Souvereyns introduces subtle touches of colour into his practice. This is a shift in sensibility rather than a rupture with the familiar. His carefully assembled stamp collection is cut up and folded, then attached to old musical scores, which had already become part of his practice before he began making his first pencil drawings. Two textile works occupy a special place in Wireless Connection. Souvereyns’ move into textiles stems both from the formal logic of his drawings and from his family history. Rhythm, repetition and pattern find their way from paper to loom. Lines become threads; drawings become woven structures. What first unfolds on paper takes on tangible form here: a network in which every thread forms part of a greater whole. The title Wireless Connection acquires a new meaning. The invisible signals of wireless communication find their counterpart in the tangible interconnectedness of woven material. Perhaps connection lies not so much in what we see as in what eludes our perception. In lines, threads and signals, the visible and the invisible meet. Fabrice Souvereyns (b. 1995, Tongeren, Belgium). His work is held in numerous private collections, as well as in Musea Brugge, B; Collectie Vlaamse Gemeenschap, B; Kunstmuseum Villa Zanders, G; and Musée du Petit Format d’ Art Contemporain, B.