Jeremy Demester at Galerie Max Hetzler

Artist: Jeremy Demester

Exhibition title: OUIDAH

Venue: Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin, Germany

Date: March 14 – May 30, 2020

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin

Galerie Max Hetzler is pleased to announce the solo exhibition OUIDAH with new works by French artist Jeremy Demester in Bleibtreustraße 45. This is Demester’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery and his second solo presentation in Berlin.

Jeremy Demester lives and works between Paris and Ouidah, Benin, where he has established a studio. According to the Voodoo cults of the Yoruba culture, rooted in Togo, Benin and Nigeria, Ouidah is the city of revenants. Living closely to the spirits, Demester creates works inspired – in the strongest sense – by the vicinity of the otherworld, embodied in the most extraordinary objects, as well as the most common.

The present exhibition was developed through consultation with several Voodoo masters (Vodounnon). An oracle gave the artist twenty-one words. These words, such as sun, moon, arrow or cross, are all symbols that populate the works to activate the world of spirits. Stirred by invisible forces, Demester’s paintings embrace the infinite metamorphoses of this cult, through their intense colourism and their exploration of primordial energies.

Demester’s works are presented along with art objects from his own collection, created in Ouidah, which bear witness to several aspects of the Voodoo journey. The Voodoo art objects take various forms and continually evolve in response to the fluctuations of the Western market, which can be felt in the availability of certain fabrics or in clothing fashions. Voodoo, an ancestral force, embodies in all materials – it dominates life.

“Jeremy Demester’s painting is action, vision and prose. In search of new possibilities in the world, the painter probes experience through intuition. It is his guide. In front of the artwork, intuition favors astonishment over assurance and pushes the painter to approach the impossible.” (Annabelle Gugnon, 2018)

Jeremy Demester (*1988, Digne), lives and works in Paris. Demester’s work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions, such as at the MUba Eugène Leroy, Tourcoing (2019); Château Malromé, Saint André-du-Bois (2018); Mucciaccia Contemporary, Rome (2017); Musée d’art moderne et contemporain de Saint-Étienne, Saint-Étienne; Palais de l’École des Beaux-Arts, Paris (both 2016); Zinsou Foundation, Ouidah and Palais des Beaux-Arts, Paris (both 2015), among others. His work can be found in the public collections of the Foundation Zinsou, Ouidah; Istanbul Modern, Istanbul and Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain Saint-Étienne Métropole, Saint-Étienne, among others.

Installation view: Jeremy Demester, OUIDAH, Galerie Max Hetzler, Bleibtreustraße 45, Berlin, 14 March – 25 April 2020 Photo: def image. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin | Paris | London

Jeremy Demester, Le pouvoir de Lissa, 2020, acrylic on canvas, in two parts, overall: 195 x 261 cm.; 76 3/4 x 102 3/4 in., each part: 195 x 130.5 cm.; 76 3/4 x 51 3/8 in., Photo: Charles Duprat. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin | Paris | London

Jeremy Demester, Le soleil du peintre, 2020, acrylic on canvas, in two parts, overall: 229.8 x 346 cm.; 90 1/2 x 136 1/4 in., each part: 229.8 x 173 cm.; 90 1/2 x 68 1/8 in., Photo: Charles Duprat. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin | Paris | London

Jeremy Demester, Tron, 2020, acrylic and appliqué on fabric, 305.5 x 294 cm.; 120 1/4 x 115 3/4 in., Photo: def image. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin | Paris | London