Serge le Belge

Multi-Disciplinary Artist

“Everything started with an olfactory sensation…..

“A comforting perfume of turpentine and oil paint which surrounded me as soon as Monique and I went through the door of the art academy.  As a very young child I was accompanying my eldest sister to her painting classes, thereby escaping, for a few hours.  She also used to take me to her work at the National Theatre in Brussels, where she designed costumes.  She just sat me down with some paper and fabric, in front of a cardboard stage model, and left me to have the time of my life.  Over fifty years later, after countless detours and explorations, painting and theatre are once again at the centre of my life!”

  I was born Serge Vanden Berghe in Belgium in 1960 to a Flemish father and a Walloon mother. Unsurprisingly, identity has always been an issue for me. After years of political activism in the radical peace movement, I followed love and moved to Cork, Ireland, in 1992.
A self-taught artist, I express myself primarily in painting and sculpture, also venturing into
poetry, music, street art and the occasional performance.

Sacred Earth and other stories

An exhibition of recent works by Serge le Belge

4th November to 20th November

Opening night: Friday 4th November, 7pm

Outlaw Studios, Marina Commercial Park, Cork

 

 

Public viewing from Friday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm,

or by appointment.

Utopia

PAINTING

  “René Magritte, Paul Delvaux, James Ensor, Victor Vasarely, Jean-Michel Folon…  Those artists have remained my primary influences throughout my never-ending journey into the arts.”

SCULPTURE

I came to sculpture through theatre and puppetry. I had a taste of it in my early, formative years,but sculpture can become too great a challenge for a nomadic spirit such as I was then! It was through building stage sets, and making floats and giant puppets for parades, that I really caught the 3D-modelling bug. My favourite piece remains Happy Days at the Gallows, made for a show
at Outlaw Studios in the old Ford factory in Cork. But I’m also pretty fond of The Dream of the Proselyte, which witnessed many events in the now legendary Camden Palace community arts centre.

STREET ART

When I paint a mural on the street, with brushes and acrylics, passers-by interact with me.

I hear all the stories about the place and the building I’m working on… Sometimes I lend a brush to a
wanderer who has some time to spare. People come back later to witness progress. A mural painted on a wall always ends up being a miniature community event.

More please! I’m up for the challenge…

COLLAGE

Rory played guitar in our band, The Shed. Back then he worked repairing photobooths, and his
car was always littered with passport photos of his face – boxfuls of them. They ended up being
the material used for a collage exhibition called Identity Parade.

NEWS

Thoughts, reflections and good ideas..

Contact

Any queries regarding any works or commission contracts

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