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England: pure and wild

"Bernard Dejonghe is not a ‘coffee table’ artist, in the sense that his work is neither anecdotal nor pretty. Bernard Dejonghe thinks in the grand manner. The visual aspect of his thoughts can be seen here in big slabs of voluptuous glazed ceramics and bold geometrical volumes of crystal clear glass both embodying, through a very personal vision of earth and sky, the essence of the universe. The root of the art of Bernard Dejonghe is to be found in the sands of an immaculate African desert and in the stars of an unspoilt and inaccessible sky, both linked by the internal vision of ancient civilisations which, like unconscious and obsessive memories, seem to haunt his mind... ...The inspiration of Bernard Dejonghe is not only the result of mere dreams or personal obsessions, but of real physical research with scientists of the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris. With them he explored the remotest parts of the Sudan looking for prehistoric human settlements and the materialisation of celestial phenomena like the incredible fulgurites, natural desert glass produced by the shock of lightning on the sand. Those fulgurites in which sky and earth fuse so violently are, to my sense, one of the keys to the art of Bernard Dejonghe, and probably an indication of where his future work will lead him: to a total blend of ceramic and glass, two paths which, up to now, he has explored separately."
Since 1989, Bernard Dejonghe has been travelling through the deserts: Mauritania, Algeria, Egypt, Chad, Sudan, and Niger. He has been looking for traces of primitive life, cave drawings, or even cosmic glass. He seems to have been born again. The influence of these trips can be seen in the large personal exhibitions of the artist that marked the1990 decade at the Modern Art Museum in Nice, at the Decorative Arts Museum in Paris, at the Municipal Museum in Evreux, in Zurich, in Geneva, in Dunkirk, in the Bourges Water Tower Museum… His sculptures are close to signs, timeless, simple, and minimalist: lines, circles, columns, triangles… At the end of the 1990’s, his glass works are purer, without crystallisation, as the Formes brèves (Short Shapes) that repeat themselves, all the same, and all different, and whose frozen transparency plunges us into the origins of the cosmic world. And what if Dejonghe’s approach was a slow race marking his works in the timeless, mineral history of the world? White glass and black earth, white earth and white glass complement each other to speak of the same subject, the mineral universe surrounding us. On this occasion, the photographer, François Goalec, participates in the exhibition to present large prints. Photographs of the workshop, the atmosphere, different trips, and works of art as well as installations allow us to have a glimpse into the universe of Bernard Dejonghe. Eric Louet Curator of the glass museum, Conches (France) Translation: Jacquie Bridonneau

An extraordinary exhibition: „Pure and wild“ is the title of an exhibition by BernardDejonghe shown from 25 April 2010 - 10 September 2010 at the Galerie B,Contemporary Glass in Sinzheim/Baden-Baden (Germany). In one of his rare solo exhibitions, Bernard Dejonghe will present his newworks characterized by clear, geometrical shapes like circles, triangles orlines. 25 works made of optical glass can be admired in a groundinstallation, as well as jagged works in ceramics. For further information please contact: Galerie B, Glas der Gegenwart,Bergstraße 19, 76547 Sinzheim/Baden-Baden. Phone: +49 – (0)7221 – 85585,Fax: +49 – (0)7221 – 85585, www.galerieb.de, email: GlasgalB@aol.com(Opening hours: Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 4:00 pm to 6:30 pm, Saturday10:30 am to 1:00 pm and on request.)
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