Image: Des flocons de neige, de poesie | Courtesy of Bruthausgallery 2021 |Copyright Thomas Renwart
Paradise is very fragile | Thomas Renwart
20 January - 25 February
Europe House, 32 Smith Square LONDON SW1P 3EU
The European Parliament Liaison Office in the UK organises exhibitions and events that showcase European culture and its diversity. Together with the Delegation of Flanders (Embassy of Belgium) and the Bruthausgallery, they present 'Paradise is very fragile', an introduction to the textile world of Belgian artist Thomas Renward (1995).
Renwart’s work originates in his Daffodil Garden, where he carefully cultivates a diverse variety of flowers, picking them just before they die. He presses them and uses them to create his jacquard-woven tapestries.
Renwart’s work also relies on the image of butterflies, which he uses to document the prolonging of different stages of life, of the ephemera, and of the wish to not lose the presence of beauty. At first sight his tapestries show natural landscapes, but their monochromic weaving also capture human emotions: grief, loss, doubt, questions of being.
Flanders is known for its tapestry tradition – a tradition the artist analyses and tries to reshape into modern day life. He searches ways to reflect on today’s society, and on what modern tapestry is. Renwart’s main actors are delicate flowers and butterflies, hence his focus on using recycled, ethical and local yarn, as well as working on Belgian weaving mills. Keeping the environmental footprint of his work low is only logical in his contribution to ecological thinking within this medium.
Paradise is very fragile is a metaphor within this thinking and acting. For this exhibition, Thomas Renwart will show a diverse body of work: tapestries (some created especially for this exhibition), polaroid photos, embroideries. Above all, the exhibition is a moment where the visitor can hide and escape for just a while, into Renwart’s Horticultural Universe.