Designer and artist Gerard Kuijpers has been committed to a practice within which both steel and marble dominate since the early 1980’s. This instantly put him on the map, brought him the international recognition which gave purpose to his spontaneous searching and testing very early on in his career and thereby legitimised his vocation. Making sure the enthusiasm with which he once started still and unabatedly results in a growing oeuvre, with which he, above all else, expresses what intrigues him.
Because even though the majority of his work boasts a specific function, that’s rarely, if ever, an end in itself. They should, instead, be seen as the result of a sustained effort. To penetrate to an alleged essence, to a presumed core which slumbers in things and determines their potential interactions. The marble and steel and, by extension, also the wood and glass. He successfully brings these together, looks for tensions and balance, for the moments when the straightforward materials decide to embark on a relationship which reinforces and highlights their individual characteristics.
The stones’ shapes and textures, the traces of their extraction, their mass and their tactility; they all form the basis which will determine the direction the work will go in. After which Kuijpers starts working with them, all the while discovering exactly what this direction will entail and where it will lead him. Sometimes it turns into a table, the marble only polished on top to give it the quality of a tabletop, the rock still a rock, its brute strength perpetuated. Or he allows the stones to seemingly float, contained in steel structures, in horizontal and vertical lines, until a console emerges, solemn and steadfast.
It’s a process challenged by gravity, but certainly vice versa too. For example, with a table whereby a metre-long wooden surface rests on loose steel legs and its unwavering strength appears to be the result of an almost intimate collaboration between the weight of the wood and the downward force associated with this. A process which is generally mainly done on a trial and error basis, which appeals to an intuitive knowledge and which also challenges Kuijpers to look for limits: the carrying capacity of the glass, the moment when the balance is just off, the pressure and friction’s limits, from a distance which can be successfully bridged without support.
Three awe-inspiring bolts of white marble in steel constructions, frozen in an endless fall, are on display in the studio on the inner edge of Mechelen. Time is tangible there. A vase made from a multitude of loose glass plates, held together by an imposing structure, consolidated only by a single stone on a steel cable, can be admired in the room next door. Making sure the work constantly demonstrates an affection which is also evident in the furniture, openly displayed in the visible joints, bolts, nuts and seams which aren’t hidden anywhere.
It’s a manifest commitment to building and assembling, to the ingenuity which is clearly required – to the expressiveness of materials and forms, to the creativity which is characteristic of mankind.
CURRICULUM
2023
- ARTEFACTS, a return to the source, Mechelen - Solo
2019
- Artefacts at art center Eleven Steens, Brussels - Solo
2018
- Miart', April, Milan - Group
- Collectible Design', March, Brussels - Group
2017
- Czech Design Week', December, Prague - Group
- Personal Structures' and 'Venice Design', April - November, Venice - Group, watch movie
2016
2015
- Exposition Résonance, Atelier Jespers, 11 - 27 September, Brussels - Solo
2014
- Dancing Stones', Galerie Yves Gastou, 25 April - 15 June, Paris - Solo, download catalog
2008
- Libreria Bocca, Milan, Italy - Solo
1997
- Gallery Francis Van Hoof, Puurs, Belgium - Group
1992
t Eksternest, Galery for unique furniture, Rumbeke, Belgium - Solo
1998
- Seasons Galeries, Den Haag, The Netherlands - Solo
- Design Heute', on tour across Japan - Group
- Nagoya Meitetsu Department Store, Osaka - Group
- Tokyo Laforet Museum Harajuku & Laforet Museum Espace, Tokyo - Group
- Toyama Indusrial Exhibition Hall, Toyama - Group
1988
- Design Heute', Deutsches Architektuurmuseum, Frankfurt a M., Germany - Group
- Kapelhuis, Galery for unique furniture, Amersfoort, The Netherlands - Sol
1987
- 85 Years Later', Horta Museum, Brussels, Belgium - Group
- Decosit', textile fair, collection of seats ITCB, Brussels, Belgium - With D. Verstraete
- Galerij Rooca 6, Turin, Italy - Group
- Ode aan Oud ', Gallery Westersingel 8, Rotterdam, The Netherlands - Group
1986
- Pur, Galery for unique furniture, Cologne, Germany - Solo
- Galerij S. en H. De Buck, Initiatief 86, Ghent, Belgium - Group
- Sint Lukas Galerij, Brussels, Belgium - Group
- Design Museum, Ghent, Belgium - Group
1985
- Pyramide, Galery for unique furniture, Brussels, Belgium - Solo
- Ligne, designshop, Koninginnegalerij, Brussels, Belgium - Solo
- Dewind, Art Nouveau Gallery, Grote Zavel, Brussels, Belgium - Solo
- Doch Doch', expostition of contemporary art curated by Chris Dercon, Leuven, Belgium - Group
1984
- Ligne, designshp, Koninginnegallerij, Brussels, Belgium - With D. Verstraete
- Surplus, Galery for unique furniture, Ghent, Belgium - Solo
- New Math Gallery, New York - Solo
