Isabelle Douillet-de Pange – författare

The extraordinary sculptures of Belgian artist Jean-Michel FolonThe first half of Belgian artist Jean-Michel Folon’s (1934–2005) career was devoted to posters, illustrations, and television animations that brought him international acclaim for their diversity and virtuosity; his illustrations appeared in magazines including The New Yorker, Fortune, and Esquire. In the 1990s, he pivoted to sculpture, focusing on statuary and working with both direct carving and modeling, which he then translated to bronze or stone. This is the first publication to explore the entirety of Folon’s sculptural work. Drawing inspiration from the Cyclades, the Etruscans, from African masks and Indian totems, Folon’s sculptures are characterized by their frontality and corporality. Distributed for MercatorfondsExhibition Schedule:Villers-la-Ville, Brussels(October 24, 2020–February 21, 2021)

This publication compares the works of two major Belgian artists - René Magritte and Jean-Michel Folon- their common grounds and their language in painting. Magritte depicts the mystery that emanates from the everyday life, while Folon opts for dreaminess and stylisation. Folon replaces Magritte's pigeon with a refined bird, drawn in a single stroke; he prefers a rectangular parallelepiped to the surrealist's well-described house. When he was 18, in 1953, Folon recalls discovering Le Domaine enchanté, the series of murals Magritte had just painted for the Knokke casino. It was a revelation. Although the two artists never met and 36 years separated them, Folon has acknowledged to be indebted to the master of Belgian surrealism -whom he considers "one of the fathers of his generation"- throughout his career. Magritte, by opening up the paths of mystery in painting, laid the foundations for Folon's art, which would never cease to explore the paths of poetry.