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artworks

CLAESEN Fabienne, sculpture, painting, permanent artist of Galerie Capazza since 2006

Are they watchers, lookouts, totems?

Are they relics of childhood or translations of the adult unconscious?

Fabienne Claesen's earthen peoples are intriguing, not immediately obvious.

In the distance, it's almost like a forest, with rough-barked trunks, pieces of wood that turn into pieces of humanity as you get closer. The faces take shape, the lines appear; the slender hands and arms give body; the oversized feet anchor the figures to the ground.

Then comes tenderness and emotion. A few centimetres away, we begin to perceive attitudes, expressions of interiority, nuances of gaze, hints of humour.

And above all, you meet the material... these modelled, engraved, incised, engobed earths, licked by the fire that colours, fuses, makes appear and disappear. They are born in her studio in Belgium or in the wood fires of La Borne; each bears the trace of the hand, the firing, the journey...

Fabienne's sculptures offer multiple levels of interpretation for those who take the time. Standing upright, facing each other, they are both strong and fragile, speaking of yesterday and today.

Her painting upsets the great vertical balance. She draws on paper, free and supple. The lines criss-cross, sometimes giving rise to fragments of bodies, sometimes to bursts of colour. The flesh here is in movement, reflecting the soul of the sculptures and the artist's gesture...

This exhibition brings together Fabienne Claesen's latest works, which interact and inhabit this magnificent Maison François 1er. We would like to thank the town of Aubigny-sur-Nère for giving us the opportunity to present her work.

Laura and Denis Capazza-Durand

Exhibition co-curators

May 2025

‘I will draw a line and it will be life’, says Hokusai.

‘Drawing a line is not a simple matter: the heart must be big and empty’, says a Chinese proverb.

Two quotes that are close to my heart and to me:

‘Love life with all your being and you will be happy forever. Don't be afraid to be who you want to be. Don't be afraid of your desires. Don't be afraid of life or suffering. There is nothing greater than victory over despair. Never be afraid to desire and do what you want... In other words: never be afraid of freedom! - Alexander Scriabin

‘When I have used a thousand reams of paper to write you all the accidents that have happened to me in my search for the said art, you must be sure that, however good a mind you have, a thousand mistakes will still happen to you, which cannot be learnt by letters, and even if you learn them by mind, you will not believe anything until practice has given you a thousand afflictions’.

Bernard Palissy (16th century ceramist)

« I will draw a line and it will be life.” Hokusai says.
“Drawing a line is not such an easy matter: heart as to be great and empty”, answers a Chinese proverb.

“People whose skin looks like the bark of the tree.

Proud, vertical and deserving, sometimes arrogant, seductive or seduced, or simply he.

Without arm, not in fact they are here, engraved and heightened by white, stuck on the body there, as powerless.

Flow of the body.

Raw man, raised, authentic man.

To make the white man, I took the black clay, for the black, the white.

Neither skin, nor colour, a person, a spirit.

At the dawn of the word, there is a gesture to raise yourself…to create”

Fabienne Claesen

Biography

Sculptor, ceramist and painter
Born on April 6th, 1959 in Leuven, Belgium

Studies and formations

1999 enamel trainee with H. Severijns

1998 glazed pottery trainee with A. Hurlet and D. Miller

1996 Seminar with Yang Seung-Ho

5th international ceramics meeting «

South clay », La Borne, France

1995 Trainee with the sculptor Véronique Choppinet

1994 Trainee with the ceramist Patrick Picarelle

1981 Graduate in interior Architecture, Saint Luc School, Bruxelles, Belgium

1981 Graduate in sculptural ceramic of the Boisfort Acadamy, teacher J.Leyman

Selected exhibitions

2021 Enfances, collective exhibition, Galerie Capazza, Nançay

2020 Le torse d’une femme à la pureté d’un vase, grands courbes simples d’un fruit désiré, Parcours d’art contemporain autour d’Auguste Rodin, Galerie Capazza, Nançay

2019 L'Arbre c'est le temps rendu visible, collective exhibition, Galerie Capazza, Nançay

2018 Galerie Capazza, Miroir des Sentiments, Nançay
Galerie Claudine Legrand, solo show, Paris

2017 Galerie La Jolla, San Diego, CA (USA)
Esprit d'intérieur, NAG, Paris
Galerie Capazza, Il est grand temps de rallumer les étoiles, Nançay

2016 Begramoff Gallery, solo show, Bruxelles
Galerie Capazza, Vénus et Vulcain, Nançay
Beatrice Wood Center, Ojaï, CA (USA)

2015 Galerie Egrégore, challenge exhibition Le Bonheur, Marmande
Galerie Capazza celebrated the 40th anniversary of the gallery
50 ans fêtes de la Saint-Martin, Tourinnes-la-Grosse

2014 Galerie Capazza, Naturalisme Intégral, Nançay
Galerie Azur, Spa
Galerie Sassi-Milici, Vallauris

2013 Galerie D'haudrecy, solo show, Knokke-Heist
Art Elysées, Paris
Galerie Capazza, Rendez-vous au lieu de la transformation, Nançay
Galerie Begramoff, solo show, Bruxelles
Galerie 2016, solo show, Bruxelles

2012 Matières à réflexion Galerie Capazza, Nançay, France
Solo show, Galerie Capazza, Nancay, France

2011 DTR Modern expo, Boston, USA
A fleur de peau, Galerie Capazza, Nançay, France
Petits formats, Galerie Garden, Bruxelles, Belgique
Exposition personnelle, Galerie Claudine Legrand, Paris

2010 Art Nocturne Knokke, Galerie Capazza, Belgique
On the road again, Galerie Capazza, Nançay, France
AAF, Tours & Taxis, Bruxelles,Galerie d’Haudrecy, Belgium
Galerie Garden, Bruxelles, Belgium
Fondation P&V, 2 sculptures the World citizenship Award
(Jacq Rousseau et Guido Verschueren)
Galerie Claudine Legrand, Paris, France

2009 AAF, Tours & Taxis, Bruxelles, Galerie d’Haudrecy, Belgium
Plastical fundamentals, Galerie Capazza, Nançay, France
Galerie Claudine Legrand, Paris, France
Galerie de l’Ô, Bruxelles, Belgium
Lineart, Galerie d’Haudrecy, Gand, Belgium
Tentuinstelling, Knokke, Belgium

2008 Noir & Blanc, Galerie Capazza, Nançay, France
Fondation P&V d’utilité publique, sculptures the World citizenship Award (J.Devos-S.Susskind)
Galerie d’Haudrecy, Knokke, Belgium

2007 30 years of regards, Galerie Capazza, Nançay, France
Galerie SassiI-Milici, Vallauris, France
Kunstwinkel, Schimmert, Netherlands
Galerie Indigo, Damme, Belgium
Galerie Prinsenhoek, Limbricht, Netherlands

2006 Maison des Arts, Conches, France (avec Charlotte Poulsen)
Pure Klei, Keramiekcentrum de Tiendschuur, Tegelen, Netherlands
Kunstwinkel, Schimmert, Netherlands
Galerie Klein, Sceaux, France
Galerie 21, Uzès ,France
Gallery 21, Bruxelles, Belgium
Ceramic Markets in Swalmen & Milsbeek, Netherlands
European Makers Gallery , Amsterdam, Netherlands
10th Biennale de la Céramique, Andenne, Belgium. Award of the public

2005 European Makers Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Galerie Klein, Sceaux , France
Gallery 21, Bruxelles, Belgium
Galerie Prinsenhoek, Limbricht, Netherlands
Beeldentuin Atelier De Kreet, Zevenbergen, Netherlands
Den Haag Art Fair, Netherlands
Kunsthuis Ingrit Desmet Keramiek Uit Eigen Land
Galerie Olyako, Wavre, Belgium

2004 Lineart, Gand, Belgium
Art Event, Lille, France
Galerie Prinsenhoek, Limbricht, Netherlands
Galerie Etienne Dewulf 1st Internationaal Keramieksalon
9th Biennale of ceramics, Andenne, Belgium
Ceramics markets in Swalmen, Braschaat, Milsbeek & Gmunden, Netherlands
Keramischer Dialog Zwischen Kontinenten
Galerie Schloss, Landeck, Austria

2003 Lineart, Gand, Belgium
Galerij Nabij, Kockengen, Netherlands
Keramiek uit eigen land, Kunsthuis Ingrith Desmet, Vichte, Belgium
3de Zomerfestival van de Keramiek, Belgium
Ook dit is vierkant Belgisch, IHAM-Galerij, Anvers, Belgium
Een keramisch dialoog tussen Twee Continenten
Galerij Van Mensel, Zelem Halen, Belgium
10 Céramistes Belges, Stichting de Kopermolen, Vaals, Netherlands

2002 Lineart, Gand, Belgium
8th Biennale of ceramics, Andenne, Belgium
Kunsthuis Ingrith Desmet in Heule bij Kortrijk, Belgium
Galerij Marc Van Meensel with Tjok Dessauvage, Zelem Halen, Belgium
Ceramic market in Swalmen, Milsbeek & Gmunden, Netherlands

2001 Firing meetings, Galerie Pierre, Paris, France
Kunsthuis Ingrith Desmet, Heule-Kortrijk, Belgium
Blauw, Galerij Marc Van Meensel, Zelem Halen, Belgium
Galerie Rooyart, Venray, Netherlands

2000 Galerie Van Eeckhout-Verbinnen, Leuven, Belgium
7e Biennale de la céramique, Andenne, Belgium

1999 Wedstrijd Keramiek Hedendaagse Vormgeving. Brugge, Belgium
Marché de la céramique, Gmunden, Austria
De Kunstwinkel, Schimmert, Netherlands
Biennale Internationale d'art céramique, Bruxelles, Belgium

1998 Galerie of the Communal credit

1997 Sculpture concourse, Price of the french community Commission
Ceramic art International Biennale, Bruxelles, Belgium

1996 Concours Art/terre, Comines-Warneton, Belgium