Marcin Sobolev, a young artist from Belgium, part migratory bird and part kingfisher,has embarked upon a journey into the collective family memory.Hovering and swooping, his work is as poetic as it is faux-naif. Is this utopia or the butterfly effect ?
The great thing about Marcin is his capacity to love birds and cats alike (and above all to love when “all cats are grey”), to fuse tederness with a clutch of familiar objects on which he superimposes shrewd metaphors, to cultivate his outsized, fairytale fruit and pull out the worm – all without advertising the fact, effortlessly, like a child who just decides to grow up.
If you want to unravel Marcin’s creative thread, you must be aware of his inner journey, the need that has gripped him over the last 10 years. You’ll need ti understand his origins, his Polish and Russian roots, which Marcin uses and abuses (even going as far as spelling his name in Cyrillic script) and which are given fresh impetus by stories and confidences shared by his grandmother and followed up on pilgrimages – journeys across the frontiers of the imagination.
Marcin is not one for wild flights of fancy or digital experimentation. He is a cabinetmaker by training and he uses his saw and paintbrush to reclaim the landscapes he has inherited from memory. His use of line – the birch tree, emblematic of poor and often sandy soils – but also his use of stitching – wood and wool, endemic and humble materials, combined with more folkloric elements (colours and pompons) – are a constant thread leading back to traditional know-how, in tandem with a style of writing which is first and foremost visual.
On top of this personal perspective, the artist persists in overlaying “an extra dose of soul”, a fun outer layer, a freshness which is as spontaneous as it is carefully applied (something conspicuous by its absence on the artistic scene at the moment), as if innocence were a muscle that had to be kept in trim.
Marie-Anne Lorgé
- Romantisme
- Une nuit d’hiver
- Résurection
- Nu Pogodi
- Le pigeon 3
- Brussels 2
- Delta
- Bialystok 2
- Protège ton rêve 1
- Cristal Palace
- Wroclaw
- Evdokia
- Vladimir
- Berlin
- Bialystok 3
Exhibitions – Artistic performances
Voyageur immobile, Espace 001, Louvain-la-neuve. (BE)
2026
2022
Une vie à l’ombre, Salon Art Paris 2019 – GendreGalerie Louis . Communiqué de presse, Brochure
Performance artistique pour LVMH flagrance
2018
Performance artistique pour Christian Dior Paris
Galeries Dudelange, Luxembourg
2017
«Un peu de douceur», galerie Louis Gendre. (Communiqué de presse)
2016
Mori YU Gallery, “Slavsquat”, Kyoto, Japon.
2015
“Cité-Jardin”, Galerie Louis Gendre, Docks Art Fair, Foire international d’art contemporain, Lyon. Solo Show récompensé par le CIC – Lyonnaise de banque par le prix « Entreprendre pour l’art contemporain »
“Dernier métro”, Galerie Louis Gendre, Chamalières.
2014
Les pieds dans la boue, Dominique Lang Art Center, Dudelange, Luxembourg
2013
“Fils d’Orphelin”, Galerie Bodson, Bruxelles.
2012
Fresque Installations, Boutique Anne Fontaine, Paris.
Fresque Performances, Agence Tan Dem, Bruxelles.
2011
Galerie Russian Tea Room. Calendrier 2011 pour bureau de gestion moscovite.
Fresque Installations, Boutique Anne Fontaine, Bruxelles.
Fresque Installations, Fiap, Paris.
2010
“Nikita”, Galerie Nosbaum & Reding – Art Contemporain, Luxembourg.
“Severiki”, Centre d’Art de Dudelange, Luxembourg.
2009
“Contes Russes”, exposition collective, Galerie Russian Tea Room, Paris.
Slick, Foire d’art, Paris.
Slick Dessin, Foire d’art, Paris.
Exposition collective, PDD, Bruxelles.
Exposition collective, A7, Bruxelles.
Intervention sur une architecture de Gabriel Kowalski, Paris.
Collaboration sur projet avec Xavier Lust, Bruxelles.
Exposition collective, Ancien Musée de Peinture, Grenoble.
2008
Intervention sur une architecture d’Andrée Putman. Bruxelles.
Installation pour la journée Portes Ouvertes de l’agence Tandem, Bruxelles.
Galerie Russian Tea Room, Paris.
2007
Espace Art 22, Bruxelles.
White Fair, Bruxelles.
Foyer Ixellois, Bruxelles.
2006
Jean-Luc au Sablon, Bruxelles.
Performances, Louis Vuitton, Bruxelles.
Performance. T. LeClerc. Bruxelles.
2005
Foyer Ixellois, Bruxelles.
Performance, Agence Tandem, Bruxelles.
Galerie du Moment, Bruxelles.
2004
Fresque pour Recyclart, Bruxelles.
Atelier d’Artois, Bruxelles.
Décors de la Zinneke Parade. Bruxelles.
Performance, ING, Bruxelles.
MJA, Bruxelles.
Duo exhibitions:
2024
Nishioji(with Alix Van Ripato),Bridderhaus, Esh-sur-Alzette(LU)
La promesse d’une belle journée(with Clement Davout), Reuter Bausch gallery, Luxembourg(LU)
2018
Kuroda,(with Aki Kuroda) Hangar Art Center, Brussels(BE)
Group exhibitions:
2026
Cool city 3000, Space collection, Liege (BE)
2025
Symposium ,Bridderhaus, Esh-sur-Alzette (LU)
2024
Luxembourg Art Week, Louis Gendre Gallery, Luxembourg(LU)
Art on paper, Baronian Gallery, Bruxelles(BE)
2023
ACK art fair , Mori Yu Gallery, Kyoto (JP)
Luxembourg Art Week, Louis Gendre Gallery, Luxembourg(LU)
Caroline Notte studio, Bruxelles(BE)
2022
Luxembourg Art Week, Louis Gendre Gallery, Luxembourg(LU)
G.A.V., Laika, Berlin(DE)
2020
Art Paris, Louis Gendre Gallery, Paris(FR)
2019
Adventices, See u, Brussels(BE)
Yoyo Maeght, Paris(FR)
2018
Brussels, Le Cloître, Brussels(BE)
FrameExperience, Paris(FR)
2016
Yia Art Fair, le carreau du temple, Paris(FR)
Yia Art Fair, Brussels(BE)
2015
Charabia, FIAP, Paris(FR)
2011
Explosion, Musée d’Ixelles, Brussels(BE)
2010
Art Brussels, Nosbaum&Reding, Brussels(BE)
Expérimental Gallery, Toulouse(FR)
2009
Contes Russes, Russian tea room Gallery, Paris(FR)
Slick, Rtr Gallery, Paris(FR)
Slick dessin, Rtr Gallery, Paris(FR)
2008
Small&co Gallery, Paris(FR)
2007
Amis pour la vie, Art22 Gallery, Brussels(BE)
Margalef&Gipponi Gallery,Antwerpen(BE)
Awards:
2021
First price Art Installation, Design Awards, Fine bakery, Brussels
2015
First price solo show, Docks Art Fair, Louis Gendre Gallery, Lyon(FR)
Artistic collaborations and Mural Paintings
Andrée Putman, Dior, Vuitton, Bombay Sapphyre, Guigal