Jesse Willems (1984) explores, photographs, draws, collects, and analyses small fragments of everyday life. Using paper dating back several decennia, dried flowers picked at the side of a busy road, a sunbeam falling on his bed every day, Willems draws the attention towards what is often overlooked. He shows that beauty can be hidden in any corner at any moment but can only be enjoyed if one takes the time to observe carefully. While his early collages and photographs can still be described as quite crowded, Willems’ work evolved towards a more abstract style, recognized by soft colours, purity, silence, and calm. By eliminating all clutter, all that remains is the few fragments worth remembering.
Seeking abstract compositions and structuring reality helps this artist to cope with the chaos and stress our world entails. With an almost stoic obsession, Jesse Willems tries to control his compositions which arise during a sustained process. Still, he consciously and simultaneously seeks to walk the thin line between control and coincidence. If reason threatens to dominate the work, Jesse let’s coincidence provide a counterbalance. His proper home, his old and new magazines, his art books and his walks through the city are his main source of inspiration.
Willems’ work has been on display at several solo – and group exhibitions. In 2017 his work was on show at the MAS Museum in Antwerp (Antwerpen à la carte) and at the Belgian Embassy in Kinshasa, Congo (Barak Friture). In 2018 he exhibited at Native Auctions in Brussels. In 2019 his work was part of the group show Belgian Contemporary Collages at Verbeke Foundation. For Eden, one of his biggest solo exhibitions at Schönfeld gallery, a ceiling full of dried flowers, which the artist picked near Antwerp’s most bleak roads, shined upon on his collages. In cooperation with the same gallery, he curated “renaissance”, an exhibition composed of two artistic dialogues, both with a different artist. The pandemic made him reflect on the future and on what the post-pandemic life would look like. As the world stood still for several months, he worked even more minimally and carefully, aware of the scarcity in material at his disposal.