the essential
The Belgian artist is exhibiting his engraved works until January 14, rue de l’Embergue.
The artist Olivier Deprez exhibits on the walls of the Réplique gallery, in Rodez, his figurative works engraved on wood which are essentially linked to his latest work Welk and to the Holz magazine. This Brussels publication in a format of 50 x 61 cm with a pagination of between 28 to 32 pages is distributed in only 10 copies for one to two annual issues.
Olivier Deprez created it with his friend Roby Comblain, who after working for the theater devoted himself to engraving, in a resolutely abstract style. Holz means wood, in German. Thus, the engraving marks the beginning of an artistic and friendly collaboration between the cartoonist Olivier Deprez and the scenographer Roby Comblain. It was following this meeting and a joint exhibition that the magazine was created in 2020.
As for Olivier Deprez’s book, Wreck, several copies of which are presented at the Ruthenian gallery, the work reveals the multiple facets and plastic research of the artist. The magazine and the book are two intertwined projects. The magazine is printed on extra fine Japanese koso paper (10 g.). “Through the play of transparency, texts and images appear in perpetual movement which, due to the simplification of the volume, is accompanied by a slowing down of reading. The lightness of the paper contributes greatly to this” Olivier specifies. In this, Holz comes close to a certain definition of the artist’s book by defining itself as an art object, being designed in an artisanal manner and published in a few copies.
The narrative approach
In the Réplique gallery, engravings from the magazine are presented (1). The works were printed on Chinese yuanshu and fuyang papers (25 g.) which offer excellent printing quality. Born in 1966 in Binche, Belgium, Olivier Deprez has lived in Gard for several years. His artistic work is at the crossroads between the Belgian painter and engraver, Frans Masereel (1889 -1972) and the narrative approach of comics. He trained at the Saint-Luc Institute in Brussels. His approach to image and narration is totally imbued with his time on campus: “One of the characteristics of this teaching was an extremely diversified curriculum… so that my training was oriented towards other disciplines than comics.” Olivier discovered engraving and engraved novels at the end of his studies. In the meantime, he experimented with various techniques, using acrylic, charcoal, Indian ink, moving from color to black and white, but was never satisfied. Then one day he read The castle. Through a sort of romantic initiatory journey, the young artist feels “a very strong resonance” which pushes him to draw. From his drawings, he devoted himself to wood engraving for the adaptation of Franz Kafka’s novel. Some hollowed materials will not be completely unwound, offering very nice contrasts in printing. “When I printed the first woods, I realized that I had my relationship between black and white” he explains.
From then on, the artist was fascinated by the interaction between text and image. He regularly collaborates with painters, photographers, actors, writers and poets for exhibition projects or publications, with the aim of “to abolish the limits between genres and give the book its full power of expression.”
Among his many projects, Olivier Deprez is preparing a new work on the theme of the relationship to image and engraving. A project is also underway with Florence Pazzottu, poet, writer and filmmaker for the creation of an artist’s book entitled Mina H. vs. Dracula. Finally, the artist is exhibiting his works until January 5 at the contemporary art museum in Sérignan.
(1). The exhibition will be open on Fridays from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The gallery (42, rue de l’Embergue) will be closed on the 20th, December 21, 27 and 28.
