Jan Kempenaers: Enjoy the Process

BREESE LITTLE

Jan Kempenaers: Enjoy the Process


19 September – 25 October 2014


30b Great Sutton StreetLondon, EC1V 0DU

19 September – 25 October 2014

Jan Kempenaers: Enjoy the Process is a substantial mid-career survey of Jan Kempenaers’ new and recent work. BREESE LITTLE will present a focus on the Antwerp-based artist’s output across the ground floor gallery, introducing the breadth of Kempenaers’ work beyond his most renowned images. This will include a number of photographic series and individual images largely unseen in this country, accompanied by Kempenaers’ recent experiments with screen-printing and a full display of the artist’s books.

Kempenaers’ photographic body of work is highly considered and meticulously compiled. Most series are restricted to a few carefully chosen shots of striking compositions. A glimpse of the artist’s website shows this archiving procedure, which shaves down any surplus imagery in favour of crucially representative images. The photographer presents a spectacle of cities and nature linked by understatement. Unusual vantage points and vistas are achieved without the crutch of Photoshop, resulting in a characteristic purism. S.F. – L.A. (2010), on display for the first time in the UK at BREESE LITTLE, documents a road trip down the West Coast of America, privileging plants, trees and cacti along the route, whether in the desert or the central reservation of a highway.

Kempenaers is best known for the stark photographs of his Spomenik series, iconic images charting World War Two memorials commissioned by General Tito in the 1960s and ‘70s in the former Yugoslavia. Crucial to his career and recent development, a number of Spomeniks will feature in the exhibition, focusing on those that are not much exhibited in this country. The Spomeniks will be exhibited alongside new works entitled Ghost Spomeniks, monochrome re-workings of Kempenaers’ original views of the monuments.

Screen-printing was likewise the focus of a 2014 residency at Frans MasereelCentrum, Belgium, a departure from Kempenaers’ signature approach of rigorous structure into unusually free form images, initially inspired by a similar foray into abstract photography by Lázló Moholy-Nagy (1895 - 1946). Alongside his affiliation with KASK/School of Arts Ghent, Kempenaers collaborates on site-specific social art integration projects and artist workshops. A recent initiative resulted in the artist book Satellite Building: Kasper Andreasen & Jan Kempenaers, which will be on display during Enjoy the Process, alongside Kempenaers’ photographic books with Roma Publications.

Please contact the gallery for a full exhibition e-catalogue and to order books. Reference copies and texts on Kempenaers’ work are available at BREESE LITTLE. Jan Kempenaers (b. 1968, Heist op den Berg) lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium and is currently affiliated to KASK / School of Arts Ghent. The artist studied film and photography at the School of Arts Ghent from 1986 - 91, and completed his PhD at the same institution in 2012. Recent solo exhibitions include Jan Kempenaers, BREESE LITTLE (2013), Spomenik, Fowler Museum, L.A. (2013), I’m not tailgating, I’m drafting, Stilll Gallery, Belgium (2013), Jan Kempenaers: Spomenik, Liquid Courage Gallery, Nassau (2013), Spomenik, Muziekgebouw aan ‘t lj, Amsterdam (2010), Recent Ruïns, Be Part, Waregem (2010), Spomenik, Middleimmuseum, Antwerp (2010) and Crown Gallery, Brussels (2006). Kempenaers’ was a participating artist in Back to the Future, BREESE LITTLE, London (2012), The Luxury of Dirt, Galerie Bob van Orsouw (2011), The Architecture Biennale, Venice, (2010) and Monolithes, FRAC Centre, Orleans (2010). Publications include I’m not tailgating, I’m drafting (2012), Bun Briste, Downpatrick Head (2012), Picturesque (2012) and Spomenik (2010). Many of the exhibited photographs are part of Kempenaers’ research project on contemporary picturesque generously funded by the Research Fund, University College Ghent, between 2006 and 2012. Forthcoming exhibitions include The Giant Impact Hypothesis, Paris (2014), Beyond Architecture, Paris (2014) and l’Architecture pour quelque chose, Triennale de Photographie et Architecture #5, Brussels (2015).

Rock #32010C–print on aluminium100.5 x 124 cm Edition of 5 + 1 AP€5,000 (including frame) + VAT

Spomenik #7 (Grmec ̌)2007C–print on aluminium100.5 x 124 cmEdition of 5 + 1 AP€5,000 (including frame) + VAT

G.A.O.2010Archival Inkjet print on paper66 x 92.5 cmEdition of 3 + 1 AP€3,650 (including frame) + VAT

Crane 2004C–print 75 x 92 cmEdition of 3 + 1 AP€3,650 (including frame) + VAT

Spomenik #1 (Sanski Most) 2007C–print on aluminium66 x 92 cmEdition of 5 + 1 AP€5,000 (including frame) + VAT

N.Z. #4 2010C–print on aluminium100.5 x 124 cm Edition of 5 + 1 AP€5,000 (including frame) + VAT

Untitled No. 32013Lambda print76 x 60.5 cmEdition of 3 + 1 AP€3,650 (including frame) + VAT

Untitled No. 22013Lambda print76 x 60.5 cmEdition of 3 + 1 AP€3,650 (including frame) + VAT

Untitled No. 12013Lambda print 76 x 60.5 cmEdition of 3 + 1 AP€3,650 (including frame) + VAT

N.A. #12012C–print on aluminium152.5 x 102.5 cmEdition of 2 + 1 AP€6,000 (including frame) + VAT

N.Z. #22010C–print on aluminium101 x 133 cm Edition of 5 + 1 AP€5,000 (including frame) + VAT

Neist Point2006C–print 46 x 55.5 cmEdition of 5 + 1 AP€1,100 (including frame) + VAT

Lost Spomenik (Kamenska)2014Offset print60 x 53.5 cmEdition of 5 + 1 AP€2,000 (including frame) + VAT

Spomenik #6 (Kozara)2007C–print on aluminium100.5 x 124 cm Edition of 5 + 1 AP€5,000 (including frame) + VAT

Untitled #12014Unique screen print98 cm X 86 cm€600 + VAT




BREESE LITTLE30b Great Sutton Street

London, EC1V 0DU

DirectorsJosephine Breese

Henry Little

[email protected]

07919 416290

[email protected] 950951

Websitewww.breeselittle.com

Documents

Jan Kempenaers: Enjoy the Process