DEWEER gallery

a view on Otegem from the gallery

the main office, a work by Jan De Cock, Denkmal 6AB, DEWEER gallery, Tiegemstraat 6AB, 2004

Introduction

Since 1979, DEWEER gallery has been bringing cutting edge contemporary art from all over the world to its spacious exhibition halls in Otegem, a small village on the countryside in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The gallery is now a ‘family affair’: Bart and Gerald Deweer have joined forces with their father Mark, with the intent to keep on playing a role on the international scene.

A considerable part of the shows at DEWEER focus on important and established positions, but the gallery regards the promotion of upcoming artists - from Belgium and abroad - as equally important.
Furthermore, the gallery’s profile is based on independent, at times even controversial choices. As a result of this, lyrical work will always be part of the programme together with work based on intellectual discourse – if the distinction is even useful. The DEWEER gallery does not wish to follow any trends or neglect any genres: the originality, intelligence and personal engagement of the artist are all that matter.

The DEWEER gallery has two exhibition halls, of about 200 and 300 square meters, both lit by tempered natural light. The staff assisting the Deweer family currently consists of two employees and two assistants. Catalogues are published on some occasions, and the gallery often supports institutional publications. The DEWEER gallery is also a regular exhibitor at the art fairs in Brussels (Art Brussels), Berlin (Art Forum Berlin), Paris (FIAC), Basel (ART Basel) and Madrid (Arco).

views of main exhibition halls

Short historical survey

The DEWEER gallery was founded in 1979 by Mark Deweer and his wife Marleen Deprez.
During the first half of the eighties, exhibitions were held on the attic of their house in Otegem.
An important focus within the programme was on British Pop Art, with two shows by David Hockney and one by Allen Jones. The first outcome of Mark’s explorations into the German art movement of the Neue Wilde were a solo show by Thomas Lange in 1984 – several shows by this artist at the gallery would follow - and another one by Georg Baselitz in the same year. There was a solo show by Braco Dimitrijevic in 1982, and one year later the gallery was admitted to ART Basel.
Also in 1983, Belgian artist Panamarenko was introduced with a solo show. The DEWEER gallery would become the only gallery to accompany the artist during his entire career.
In 1985, a new exhibition space was opened on the site of the Deweer family’s carpetfactory in the same street, where the gallery is now still located. Jan Hoet’s assistant at ‘Chambres d’Amis’, Jo Coucke, came to work for the gallery in 1986.

During the second half of the eighties, the gallery’s interest in the Italian ‘Transavanguardia’ movement - already explored in a couple of group shows – culminated in solo shows by Mimmo Paladino and Enzo Cucchi, while the work around the Neue Wilde was continued with shows by Penck and Baselitz.
After the group show ‘Neue Deutsche Skulptur’, the DEWEER gallery was the first outside Germany to start a collaboration with Stephan Balkenhol. Since his first solo show in 1987, Balkenhol has regularly exhibited at the gallery and has become a reference in the programme.
Also in 1987, Josef Felix Müller was introduced. Another artist crucial to the development of the gallery’s activities, Jan Fabre, was introduced in 1988. Since then, the DEWEER gallery documented every major thematical step in his work in several solo shows.

The nineties at the DEWEER gallery were, perhaps not coincidentally, typified by a series of shows by remarkable but more individual positions. One of those was the young Aernout Mik, whose work was shown at the DEWEER gallery in three solo shows throughout the decade, the first solo being held in 1992. Imi Knoebel’s solo show took place in the same year. Other crucial shows were by Gunter Brus in 1990, by Thomas Ruff one year later and by Siegfried Anzinger and Mark Wallinger, both in 1997. An additional exhibition hall, offices and stock facilities were opened in 1994.
The year 1995 was special again, with a first solo by Günther Förg (followed by another one in 2000), and with the introduction of Tony Cragg, who remained a key artist to the gallery’s profile. Cragg built a number of important shows at DEWEER, just like another reputed artist the gallery could introduce already in 1992: Ilya Kabakov. Right after Documenta 9, Kabakov made his first show at the DEWEER gallery. More shows would follow, the first one being a historical duo show with Jan Fabre in 1998.

The beginning of the new millennium at DEWEER was marked by the introduction in 2001 of Koen Vanmechelen, whose work on the ‘Cosmopolitan Chicken Project’ was shown in several solo shows since then. In the same year Jan Fabre presented his installation ‘Umbraculum’, a significant work within his oeuvre.
The years 2004 until 2006 were crucial as well: Bart and Gerald Deweer came to work for the gallery on a full-time basis.
One of the first shows that revealed the gallery’s plans for the future was the one by Matthieu Laurette in 2004. Later that year, with the grandscale group show ‘Eclips’, held on a historical industrial site, the DEWEER gallery made a summary of 25 years of activity, and demonstrated its ambition to develop an equally fascinating programme for the next decades.

In 2006, four artists were introduced with a solo show: Sergey Bratkov, Enrique Marty, Benjamin Moravec and Belgian artist Andy Wauman. In the same year, Ilya Kabakov presented a new series of paintings and the closing down of the factory again allowed for an expansion of the infrastructure. The aim for the near future is to integrate all the spaces into one consistent architectural concept.
In 2007, the young Belgian artist Stefaan Dheedene made his first solo at the gallery and another one, Michaël Aerts, joined the programme in 2008. At the end of the same year, Cristina Lucas made her first appearance in Belgium with a solo show at DEWEER gallery, as did Boris Mikhailov in 2009.