BOEKS is een toonplatform voor boeken op de Gentse Bijlokesite.

366

Jonathan Paepens

Three hundred and sixty-six auto-emotional portraits^*in drawing, book and exhibition

Exhibition: 21.05.2021 - 24.06.2021
Finissage & book launch: 24.06.2021, 18:00 - 23:00

Book your ticket for the closing event on 24 June here.

*hover over nose, mouth, mustache and eyes
and meet me 366 times

366, as portrait carousels in a corridor of chambers

In addition to coming together in book form, Paepens' 366 characters also seek to take on a new appearance tailored to the BOEKS space. This time, there is not a corridor through which to walk in a single direction, but an enfilade of six darkened chambers in which to linger. Each room will host a carousel of 61 portraits. That makes 366 encounters in all.

In the BOEKS space, take your time to allow Paepens' collection of portraits to sink in, and also to browse the book selection linked to this theme in the Kunstenbibliotheek.

You are welcome to visit from Friday 21 May through 24 June (Mon.-Thurs. 9:00 AM-6:00 PM/Fri. 9:00 AM-4:00 PM), as well as for the finissage and book launch, to be held at 6:00 PM on 24 June 2021.

366, as a collection of auto-emotional portrait drawings

366 is both emotional autoportrait and automated emotion. 366 is a profil en trois-quart times three hundred and sixty-six different days and states of mind. The missing quarter is filled in by the emotional charge of the moment. 366 is an intimate journal on automatic emotion – an almost daily, compulsive, obstinate and wilful repetition of the same outlined façade with nose, then eyes, and a moustache. It is sometimes also with hairdo, headgear, eyebrows or eyelashes, in all conceivable variants. The series is a conveyor-belt work of likewise transient emotions, from king to child and with all kinds of puppets and props in between. 366 as a theatre play

366 is a collection of self-portraits in which the gaze turns inward, in which unforeseen and unrecognizable mirror images arise, in which fantasy and emotion are sought, sometimes taking over. It is searching for the soul, seeing oneself as another, as neither mask nor mirror, as man and/or woman, Narcissus or Echo, drowning in self-love or shrivelling from heartbreak, no longer not weeping, with brush in the water or a dry needle. The paper sheets swell, absorbing the colour and the sentiment of the day.

“I am but a reflection of your life
In you and with you I am but one life.”

Freely translated from Antinous, des Kaisers Liebling: ein Seelengemälde aus dem Alterthume (1888) by Oscar Link

You can order the book including the original drawing via the website of Jonathan Paepens.

366, as an artist's book plus an original drawing

366 is the result of a four-year, almost daily drawing practice in which 366 different appearances of the self were created. The portraits on paper were created performatively and intuitively with the materials at hand, such as coloured pencil, marker, pen, paint, watercolour, make-up, glitter or food scraps. They leave transient traces of an introspective look, an emotion, a fantasy. The character stares at himself sideways and each time ends up with a different mood, manipulation, color. An elongated process that from now on can see itself 366 times bundled in one box. The unfolding of the box releases the same number of shades, reflections, props and techniques. Leaf through 366 and attend the scarlet theatrical play.

366, Jonathan Paepens, 2021
collection of 366 portrait drawings on paper
made from 2016 to 2020
edition of 366

on sale for €250
pre-sale reservation until 24 June for €190

exhibition finissage and book launch
Thursday 24 June, 6:00 PM

cardboard cassette box (51 x 34 x 5 cm) containing one original drawing (50 x 32.5 cm) and 365 high-quality reproduction prints (47 x 32.5 cm), with cover, certificate and text

graphic design by Michelle Daniëlse
printed by Cultura, Wetteren, BE

On the occasion of the book launch, Koi Persyn presented a performative lecture for which he wrote the text "An Anthology of Mediocre Metamorphoses". You can read it here.

366