Deweer Art Gallery

Deweer Gallery

Founded in 1979 by Mark and Marleen Deweer in Otegem, a small village in the south of West Flanders, Belgium, Deweer Gallery has recently started the second big chapter of its existence. Both sons of the gallery’s founders, Bart and Gerald Deweer, have indeed taken over the lead of the gallery with the intention to continue playing a dynamic role on the scene of the international contemporary arts and to promote a new generation of artists by means of strong gallery exhibitions and regular participations at the most important international art fairs. The change of generation can be observed not only from the ambitious gallery program, but also from the renovation of the gallery buildings. In the course of more than 35 years Deweer Gallery has accomplished a remarkable history. At the beginning of the 80s Deweer Gallery was the first Belgian gallery to introduce the German New Wild Painting and the Italian Transavanguardia. The gallery presented solo shows with a.o. Georg Baselitz, A.R. Penck, Rainer Fetting, Enzo Cucchi and Mimmo Paladino. At the same time the gallery took on the promotion of contemporary Belgian artists. In 1983 the gallery organised its first individual exhibition with Panamarenko. It continues to represent the artist up until today. Jan Fabre was introduced in 1985. In the second half of the 80s Deweer Gallery became the first non-German gallery of the German sculptor Stephan Balkenhol. In the 90s Deweer Gallery worked with a number of international artists who were critically acclaimed for their very strong and individual positions: Günter Brus (Austria), Günther Förg (Germany), Tony Cragg (Great Britain), Ilya Kabakov (Ukraine, from 1992 onwards), Imi Knoebel (Germany), Gerhard Merz (Germany), Aernout Mik (The Netherlands), Siegfried Anzinger (Austria), Thomas Ruff (Germany, as early as 1992!) and Mark Wallinger (Great Britain). Each of them made extraordinary use of the gallery’s museum like exhibition rooms in several solo shows. The first decade of the new millennium was also the start of a number of collaborations with new artists: Koen Vanmechelen (Belgium, >2000), Matthieu Laurette (France, > 2004), Sergey Bratkov (Ukraine, > 2006), Enrique Marty (Spain, > 2006), Benjamin Moravec (France, > 2006), Andy Wauman (Belgium, > 2006), Stefaan Dheedene (Belgium, > 2007), Michaël Aerts (Belgium, > 2008), Cristina Lucas (Spain, >2008), Boris Mikhailov (Ukraine, >2009), Tatjana Gerhard (Switzerland, > 2010), Matthew Lutz-Kinoy (United States, >2011), Norbert Witzgall (Germany, >2011), Keren Cytter (Israel, >2013), Kasia Fudakowski (UK, >2013), Jan De Cock (Belgium, >2013), Melissa Gordon (USA/UK, > 2014), Shirana Shahbazi (Iran/Switzerland, > 2014), George Little (Danmark / UK, > 2014), Marc Bauer (Switzerland / Germany, > 2015) and Thomas Kratz (Germany, > 2015).

In between this remarkable list of solo shows Deweer Gallery on a regular basis presented thematic group shows that likewise are the milestones of Deweer Gallery’s rich exhibition history; to name a few: “Ouverture” (1985, at the occasion of the gallery’s move to its location at Tiegemstraat 6A), “Xth Anniversary Show”(1989), “A Painting Show”(1994, at the occasion of the inauguration of the current Room II), “ECLiPS” (2004, at the occasion of the gallery’s 25th anniversary and presented at the former electric power plant Transfo in Zwevegem), “Art of the Loom – 32 Tapestries woven on the looms of Mark Deweer’s factory, Otegem, Belgium, 1985-2010” (2011) and “Re-Opening” (2012, with a two-volume publication).

Today Deweer Gallery unabatedly continues its historic impetus and resolutely chooses for continued renewal and innovation, as is illustrated from the gallery’s exhibition program.