Saint-Trond, Belgium, 1956
Established Belgian artist Michel François has a refined and idiosyncratic view of reality. He makes inventories of the world around us by way of antithesis. In his work to date he has continually returned to a set of opposites; some formal such as convex and concave, empty and full, light and dark. But also others which speak more to social structures such as freedom and imprisonment, riches and poverty, work and leisure, survival and play. François 'appeals to our sensory perception and capacity for interpretation as a means of raising individual and social consciousness' (Witte de With, Rotterdam, 1997).
François employs different types of media and techniques in conjunction, including installation, video, sculpture, and photography. His works range between plaster casts of empty pockets and an expansive, growing installation bureau augmente, (expanded office) 1999. In the latter he used black and white untitled photographs, offset posters, piles of coins and newspapers, and lots of office furniture and equipment - all placed in the exhibition space in a virtual occupation of the space. One critic remarked that the installation 'reflects a Kafkaesque view of corporate life and work ...[and] the various ways we cope with the pressures of the working world (money, violence, Prozac) and ... anxieties about the obsolescence of human labor in an increasingly computerized society'.
Far away from normal office life, but not from bureaucracy, was an earlier work: Mest, Brandnetels en Paardebloemen (Manure, Nettles and Dandelions), 1997 - a project for a permanent work at the De Kivelanden Detention Clinic in Rotterdam. In the prison he organized a collaboration with the inmates. François designed a display case in which they could exhibit something they had made or something of themselves. One prisoner contributed a note stating: 'Nothing is more clear than a closed door or dandelions'. For art-goers unwilling or unprepared to visit the high security detention center - as the artist did for over a year - he realised a 'documentary' version of the work for the Witte de With, Rotterdam. This version of the work, for a voluntary attendance public institution, consisted of objects, images and manifestations of the artist's experience of working with the prisoners. On the wall was a poster parodying the prison's strict behaviour rules: 'Pas tomber! (Do Not Fall!)'.
His photographic work is simple and unaffected. Many photos have been taken on his travels to Africa, Brazil, Cuba, Indonesia; and others in his Brussels garden. In them François displays his own particular hierarchy of action, sensation and surfaces. Insignificant events assume a new importance and 'one is made more aware of one's surroundings so that one's relationship to it can be negotiated anew' (Art/Text, 1998). Michel François has been a guest teacher at the Rijks Akademie voor Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam since 1996.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
'Bureau augmente', Musee de Charleroi, 1999
'Bureau augmente', Galerie Gebauer, Berlin, Germany, 1999
'Bureau augmente', Galerie Jennifer Flay, Paris, France, 1999
'A flux tendu', Espace Departmental d'Art Contemporain, Camaise et Portique, Albi, France, 1998
'Witte de With, Center for contemporary art, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 1997
Galerie Curt Marcus, New York, USA, 1996
Affichage urbain, EDA, Dunkirk, France, 1996
FRAC Limousin, Limoges, France, 1996
Lumen Travo, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1996
Galerie Ulrich Gebauer, Berlin, Germany, 1995
Galerie Jennifer Flay, Paris, France, 1995
Galerie Ursula Walbrol, Dusseldorf, Germany, 1995
Galerie Marie Puck, Broodthaers, Brussels, Belgium, 1995
Galerie Curt Marcus, New York, USA, 1994
Galerie Gunther et Gebauer, Berlin, Germany, 1993
'Le Monde et les Bras', Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels, Belgium, 1992
Vereniging voor het Museum van Hedendaagsee Kunst, Gent, Belgium, 1991
Galerie Lumentravo, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1991
Galerie Marie Puck, Broodthaers, Brussels, Belgium, 1990
Galerie Camille Van Scholtz, Brussels, Belgium, 1990
'Het Latijnse Noorden in Vier Scenes', (with Kandilaptis, Jansses, Muyle), Musee d'Hasselt, 1990
Vereniging voor het Museum voor Hedendaages Kuns, Gent, Belgium, 1988
Galerie Isy Brachot, Brussels, Belgium, 1988
Musee d'Art Moderne, Brussels, Belgium, 1988
Galerie La Planita, Rome, Italy, 1987
Galerie Zeno X, Anvers, Belgium, 1986
Galerie Zeno X, Anvers, Belgium, 1984
'Araignees', Fondation de la Tapisserie, Tournai, Belgium, 1983
'Appartement a Louer', Galerie Erg, Brussels, Belgium, 1980
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Venice Bienniale, Belgian pavilion, Venice, 1999
'skindeep', Galerie Jennifer Flay, Paris, France, 1997
'L'Empreinte', organised by Georges Didi-Huberman and Didier Semin, Centre George Pompidou, Paris, France, 1997
'L'Empreinte', Foire de Chicago, 1997
'L'Empreinte', Galerie Jennifer Flay, Paris, France, 1997
'L'Empreinte', Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium, 1997
ART Brussels, Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium, 1997
Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium, 1996
'Prospect 96', Frankfurt, Germany, 1996
'La valise du celibrataire', gare de Maastricht, The Netherlands, 1995
1st Johannesburg Biennale, 1995
'Photographies', galerie Rodolph Janssens, Brussels, Belgium, 1995
'Sculpture as object', Curt Marcus Gallery, New York, USA, 1995
'Westchor Ostropal', galerie im Marstall, Berlin, Germany, 1995
'Infections', Wolfslaar Park, Breda, The Netherlands, 1995
'Belgio', Ex Lanificio Bona, Carignano Torino, Italy, 1995
'Geometrie Sacree', Galerie Marie Puck Broothaers, Brussels, Belgium, 1995
'A mascara, a mulher, a morte', Culturgest, Lisbon, Portugal, 1994
'Beeld Beeld', museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst, Gent, Belgium, 1994
Galerie Lumen Travo, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1994
Ã?cole des Beaux-Arts de Saint-Ã?tienne, France, 1994
'Art Hotel', Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1994
'Beeld Buiten', Tielt, Belgium, 1994
22nd Sao Paulo Biennale, 1994
'De Maat des Dingen', Gemeente Museum, Helmond, The Netherlands, 1994
'L'art en Belgique depuis 1980', Musee d'Art Modern, Brussels, Belgium, 1993
'Chambres d'hotels, Quebec, Canada, 1993
'Acquisitions', Musee de Gand, 1993
'Autoportraits contemporains', Elac, Lyon, France, 1993
'L'objet theorique' Domaine de Kerguehennec, 1993
Galerie Lumen Travo, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1993
Galerie Jennifer Flay, Paris, France, 1993
Kunst in Zoersel, Zoersel, Belgium, 1993
Galerie Rodolphe Janssens, Brussels, Belgium, 1993
'Le jardin de la vierge', Old England, Brussels, Belgium, 1993
'L'architecture de jardin au xxe siecle', Fondation pour l'architecture, Brussels, Belgium, 1993
'La tentation de l'image', Fondation Gulbenkian, 1993
Art Belgium, Hong Kong, 1993
'Belgen zu gast', Galerie Schoder, Monchengladbach, 1992
'Selectie Belgische kunstenaars voor Documenta IX', Musee d'Hondt d'Haens, 1992
'Documenta IX', Kassel, Germany, 1992
Galerie Gunther Gebauer, Berlin, Germany, 1992
Artic en Amicitae, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1992
'Les Voies de la Cultere Europeenne', Narodna Galery, 1991
'Les Voies de la Cultere Europeenne', Bratislava-Kunstwerke, Berlin, Germany, 1991
'Les Voies de la Cultere Europeenne', Hotel de Ville, Brussels, Belgium, 1991
'1951-1991 Images d'une Epoque', Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels, Belgium, 1991
'Un Detail Immense', Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels, Belgium, 1991
'De Collectie Alsnoch', Musee d'Hasselt, 1991
'Multiples', Zeger Rijers, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 1991
'Door de herhaling van de dromen naar de realiteit', Galerie Grita Insam, Vienna, Austria, 1991
Galerie Marie Puck Broodtahers, Brussels, Belgium, 1991
'Dynamiques Contemporaines', Beaunord, Paris, France, 1991
Galerie Michel Vidal, Paris, France, 1990
'Taal en Geometrie', Stedlijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1990
'Transatlantique', Le Botanique, Brussels, Belgium, 1990
'Le Peripheerique et la Merveilleux', Espace 215 Nord, Liege, France, 1990
Galerie Michel Vidal, Paris, France, 1989
'Incidents de Parcours', Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels, Belgium, 1989
'De Rozeboomkamer', Diepenheim, The Netherlands, 1989
'Transatlantique', La Chambre Blanche, Quebec, Canada, 1989
Galerie Zeno X, Anvers, Belgium, 1988
'5 Artistes Belges', Sala Amadis, Madrid, Spain, 1988
'De Collectie', Muhka, Anvers, Belgium, 1988
Casa Frolo, Venice, Italy, 1988
'Animal et Vegetal', Van Reekum Museum, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands, 1988
Galerie A Maeght, Paris, France, 1988
'Etates Limites, Archives des Passions', Espace 251 Nord, Liege, France, 1988
'Belgica', Rome, Italy, 1987
'Jeune Sculpture', Paris, France, 1987
'Beeldhouwerssymposium', Maastrict, The Netherlands, 1987
'Dialogue d'Art', Le Botanique, Brussels, Belgium, 1987
'Clair Obscur', Brussels, Belgium, 1987
Galerie Isy Brachot, Brussels, Belgium, 1987
Sala Uno, Rome, Italy, 1986
'Mandelzoom', Canino, 1986
'Initiatief 86', Campo Santo, Gand, 1986
'Portrait de l'Ile aux Phoques', Casa Frolo, Venice, Italy, 1986
Galerie Isy Brachot, Brussels, Belgium, 1986
Espace 251 Nord, Liege, France, 1986
'Jeune Peinture', Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels, Belgium, 1985
'Location', Brussels, Belgium, 1985
'Simeon et Flamands Roses', Centre Culturel, Albi, France, 1985
'Investigation', Liege, France, 1985
'De l'Animal et Vegetal', Ztelier 340, Brussels, Belgium, 1985
Biennale de la critique, Brussels, Belgium, 1985
'Tectonic', Liege, France, 1984
'Eclipse', Brussels, Belgium, 1984
'Transparencies et Lumieres', Le Botanique, Brussels, Belgium, 1984
Galerie Zeno X, Anvers, Belgium, 1984
'La Grande Absente', Musee d'Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium, 1983
'Parcours', Centre d'Art Contemporain, Brusssels, Belgium, 1983
'De Eerste Chauvinistische', Galerie Montevideo, Anvers, Belgium, 1983
'La Magie de l'Image', Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels, Belgium, 1982
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
François, Michel, En meme temps, Moulins Albigeois a Albi, Espace departemental d'art contemporain
Cimaises et Portiques, 1998
'Tecla Sala - Michel François', Flash Art, March/April, 1998
Hettig, Frank-Alexander, 'Nothing in My Pockets', Art/Text, Number 61, 1997
'Michel François - Witte de With', Artforum, November 1997
Paul, Frederic and Hans Theys, Le monde et les bras, FRAC Limousin, 1996
François, Michel, Le monde et les bras, Societe de Expositions du Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels,
1992-93