THE ARTIST

Viviane Brickmanne

I ask myself: Is a work of art the product of its author’s mind or perhaps just the reflection of an incomprehensible dream of beauty? I always look forward to transforming the object in order to reveal its unexplored depths. My classic and literary academic training is reflected in my first figurative sculptures. The Mutants series portrays stylized young girls who unsuccessfully attempt to escape the earth and reach an impossible freedom, in accordance with W. Blake’s definition: “Flight is the world’s liberty…” I continued to develop winged figures and later on more abstract, vertical pieces, always trying to express a poetic vision of space through ascending lines that suggest flight. Decaying nature often inspires me. I pick up decomposing plant elements in order to capture the  traces of passing time caused by wind, rain, soil or the human hand. I incorporate them into my working process so that they lose their vulnerability and become durable. All decomposition halts and a new sense of beauty appears that is different, unexpected. I have begun a new line of investigation in bricks, a construction element that I transform to give it a new significance and appearance. At times, I introduce leaves or pomegranates into the brick to create a dialogue between an architectural element which is rectangular and masculine and the plant, round and feminine. The pomegranate is a sensual element and it breaks the linear structure of the brick. Lately I am working with state-of-the-art technologies and using new materials more adapted to the idea I want to develop, considering the brick as a metaphor of the vulnerability and fragility of our lives. Here the bricks reflect emotions,  feelings, even suffering. I cast my works principally in bronze and aluminium.

ARTISTIC TRAINING

  • Atrium, academy of drawing and painting

  • Brita Prinz, serigraphy workshop (silk screen painting)

  • Gilding  and polychromy

  • Modeling, School of ceramics, “Escuela de Cerámica de la Moncloa” Madrid.

CV

  • Belgian. Resident in Spain.

  • Liberal Arts graduate from the University of Louvain (Belgium)

  • Deputy member of the Cultural Foundation Carlos de Amberes (Madrid)

Additional video: Interview at Canal 24h: https://youtu.be/t_sqRB0dg_E

Studio: Torrelodones (Madrid)

Sculptural career

THE AIR: ascending lines that suggest flight. (2007 – 2009)

I develop the concept of air in stylized figures of ascending lines, a poetic vision of space (Dragonfly, Sleeping bird, Beak of the Condor, Scream…). The air circulates through open spaces and becomes part of the work itself. The flight symbolizes the ascension, the transcendence, the improvement of the human condition (Brancusi).

  • Dragonfly, bronze
  • Sleeping bird, bronze

Imaginary flight, View from above…lose their polished  and perfect line, but maintain the concept of air through stylized forms. I look forward to creating the illusion of lightness.

  • Imaginary flight. Bronze
  • View from above. Bronze

The MUTANTS (2012 – ) are aerial creatures who belong to the universe of childhood. They try to escape the earth and reach a marvellous world of fantasy. Nevertheless, despite their determination to connect to  the mysteries of the universe, reality always prevails. The duality earth-air is visible in an ascendent movement, with stylised arms and legs, and wings elaborated with metallic waste.

  • Mutant I
  • Mutant IV

ENVIRONMENTAL AND/OR METALLIC WASTE participate in the elaboration of my works (2009 – )

Metamorphosis I, II, II, IV, V; Gnome I F and Gnome I M; Pistil I and II; Alcion I and II; Inside, Outside, Graft, Submision I and II… Decaying nature is part of my work: decomposing plant elements, rusted objects…: they are the traces of passing time caused by wind, rain, soil or  the human hand. I incorporate them into my sculptures so that they lose their vulnerability and become durable. Dcomposition halts. Passing time has been captured.

  • Inside/ Outside. Bronze
  • Graft. Bronze
  • Autumn leaves. Bronze
  • Submision I and II. Bronze

CONSTRUCTION ELEMENTS  MERGE WITH NATURAL MATERIALS (2015 -.

Currently I am working with bricks. I transform this construction element and eliminate his symmetry and functionality in order to make it artistic. A) At the beginning I used a broken brick as a support for the sculptures.

  • Flower of Evil. Bronze
  • Dialogue. Bronze
  • Intrusion. Bronze

B) Next the brick becomes an independent sculptural element. The line of symmetry is broken and the everyday object becomes a work of art and attains a new and different kind of beauty.

  • Ascending structure. Aluminium
  • Closed structure and bambú. Aluminium
  • Open structure and pomegranates. Auminium.

C) At times, I introduce leaves or decayed pomegranates into the brick to create a dialogue between an architectural element, powerful, rectangular and masculine, and a plant, fragile and feminine. The pomegranate is a round, sensual element and it breaks the linear structure of the brick.

  • Broken heart. Aluminium
  • Deconstruction I. Aluminium
  • Captive leaf. Aluminium

https://youtu.be/FH14r95pBM4.  De ladrillos y granadas. Video. D) The brick as a pendant has a humanitarian meaning. I am deeply impressed by the destruction of cities due to war or natural disasters. Destroyed homes and buildings are a sign of suffering and desperation wherein bricks carry a great emotional burden. I created a pendant to colaborate with the Spanish NGO Rescate which reconstructs homes, schools and hospitals in  Siria.

  • pendants of three colours, with gold leaf and silver leaf.

Lately I am working with state-of-the-art technologies and using new materials more adapted to the idea I want to develop, considering the brick as a metaphor of the vulnerability and fragility of our lives. Here  the brick reflect emotions, feelings, even suffering.

  • Rupture. Resin
  • Lifting brick. Resin
  • Ruins

TECHNIQUES

  • I cast my works in bronze and aluminium. Fundición Arte 6, Arganda del Rey. Spain. Fundición Esfinge, Torrejón de Ardoz. Spain.
  • Resin and New technologies 3 D: Materialise, Louvain, Belgium

EXHIBITIONS

Individuales

  • 2008: Pabellón de Bélgica. Zaragoza. Exposición Internacional del Agua
  • 2010: Casa de Cultura. Torrelodones. “Correspondencias”
  • 2011: Galería Atalante. Madrid. “Aire”
  • 2017:
    • Hotel Hesperia. Madrid.
    • I Feria de Arte Internacional. Málaga

Colectivas

  • 2003 – 2007: Exposiciones colectivas de escultura cerámica con la Escuela de Cerámica
    • Ministerio de Agricultura. Madrid
    • Círculo de Arte, Toledo
    • Círculo de Arte, Alarcón
  • 2012:  Galería Atalante. Madrid. “Encontr’Arte”
  • 2013:
    • L’Art pour l’Accueil. Brussels
    • AAF (Affordable Art Fair) New York. The United Gallery
    • Art Santa Fe (USA)
    • “Artistas Españoles en Corea”. Daegu.
  • 2014
    • Casa de Cultura. Torrelodones. “Femineidades”
    • AAF “Adopt Art”. Brussels
    • Feria Donostiartean. San Sebastián.
    • AAF Hamburg
  • 2015
    • AAF Brussels
  • 2016
    • Feria Internacional DEARTE . Madrid: Presentación de mis obras por Moises Rodriguez en el telediario de RTVE, texto del periodista José Hervás.
    • Casa de Cultura Torrelodones. “Femineidades II”
  • 2017:
    • International Art Fair : Berliner Liste.  (Alemania)
    • Feriarte. Feria de Arte y Antigüedades. Madrid
  • 2018:
    • SumARTE Ateneo – Madrid
    • Studio Lisboa 018. Portugal
    • Cannes Art3F 2018. Francia
  • 2019: Be a woman and smile. esARTE Gallery. Marbella
  • 2020: Homenaje a la Mujer. Casa de Cultura de Navacerrada (Madrid)
  • 2021:
    • Artist Experience. Fundación Carlos de Amberes
    • Fundación Carlos de Amberes: Casa Valonia, organizada por Wallonia.be (Embajada de Bélgica)
  • 2022: Feriarte. Galería Themart International
  • 2024:
    • Return. Exposición de la Asociación MTG (Mínimo Tamaño Grande) en la Case de Cultural de San Lorenzo de El Escorial (Madrid).
    • Altitud Etérea: Exposición de la Asociación MTG en el Palacio de los Barrantes-Cervantes. Trujillo (Extremadura)

Solo Exhibitions painting

  • 1992: Palacio de Gaviria .Madrid
  • 1996: Espacio de Arte Contemporáneo. Madrid
  • 1997: Caja de Ahorros. Gent (Bélgica)

Collective Exhibitions:

  • 1991:  XII Premio Peña. Atrium
  • 1992: Colectiva de obras gráficas. Galería Brita Prinz. Madrid
  • 1993:
    • Four Belgian painters, Galería Van Art. Madrid
    • Espacio de Arte Contemporáneo. Madrid
  • 1994: “Ficciones”, art on paper. Galería Van Art. Madrid.
  • 1995: Six contemporary artists. Caja de Ahorros. Burgos
  • 1997: International contemporary Art Fair. Granada
  • 1999: Three Belgian artists. Galería Rina Bouwen. Madrid.
  • 2000: “Lapislázuli”, graphic art. Galería Brita Prinz (serigrafía). Madrid.
  • 2001: Three artists, Hotel Don Carlos. Marbella.
  • Price “Plus es más”, Ediciones Bayard, Spain
  • “Facing  the wind”,  awarded by Chamber of Commerce of Belgium and Luxemburg in Spain.
  • First award. International Association of Women. Madrid (2004)
  • Magazine Plaform Press. April 2000. Photo on cover + article
  • Magazine “Plus es más”- Spring 2012. “Viviane Brickmanne, emerging sculptress”.
  • Project about Conservation of Contemporary Sculpture”. Study of my sculpture “Euridice” for the Department of Fine Arts. Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2014). Author: Ana Seisdedos Ribera.
  • Bruxelles Art Vue. Human Body is Art 2021 edition
  • Acalanda Magazine Cultural “Viviane Brickmanne or the poetic vision of space” by José Adserías (20.11.2022)
  • The secret life of the pomegranate. Published at Magazine of Sculpture Network. 31 oct. 2023
  • 26 June 2014: Reception and visit of the studio of the artist in collaboration with the Chamber  of Commerce of Belgium and Luxemburg in Spain.  Subject: The language of sculpture.
  • 3 March 2015: Visit of the Foundry Capa in collaboration with Sculpture Network and the Chamber of Commerce of Belgium and Luxemburg in Spain.
  • 14 September 2016: Reception at the artist’s home and studio in Torrelodones. Subject: Bricks & Nature
  • 15-16 June 2019: Open houses in Torrelodones to show my recent works.