Trucs Machins et Bidules (Nooks & Crannies): Organised with Olivier Renaud-Clément

Galerie Christophe Gaillard Brussels proudly presents Trucs Machins et Bidules (Nooks & Crannies), an exhibition revolving around the notion of assembling and recycling, and the potential socio-political forces prompting these creative processes. Organised in collaboration with Olivier Renaud-Clément, this presenta- tion unites selected works by Ser Serpas, François-Marie Banier, Nancy Brooks Brody, Jesse Darling, Rafik Greiss, Marc Leschelier, Jean-Luc Moulène, Anita Molinero and Daniel Pommereulle.

In his 1961 seminal work, William Seitz extensively defined ‘The Art of Assemblage’, which, according to the foreword, could have easily been named ‘The Art, Non-Art, and Anti-Art of Assemblage’ if it weren’t for typographical constraints. According to part of his definition, assemblage touches upon ‘the need of certain artists to defy and obliterate accepted categories, to fabricate aggressive objects, to present subjects tabooed by accepted standards, to undermine the striving for permanency by using soiled, valueless, and fragile materials, and even to present ordinary objects for examination unaltered’. Though the focal point of Trucs Machins et Bidules (Nooks & Crannies) echoes this sentiment, Olivier Renaud Clément’s proposal is one relying on intui- tion rather than theory and on connection with the works presented rather than conformity to rigid categories. The wide-ranging selection of artists - at different stages of their artistic careers and approaching this form with different inputs - testifies to this sensibility.