artlead's 2O2O Holiday Gift Guide

For the upcoming holidays, we have put together a gift guide - with works of art and functional objects from both emerging and established artists. The ten gift tips on this list vary from €120 to €1500. Read why we chose these works, and why they make an ideal gift for yourself or a loved one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raymond Pettibon You still have something to destroy..., 2002 Silkscreen print - 61 x 91,5 cm Edition of 120 copies, signed and numbered by the artist €1100

 

Raymond Pettibon is a personal favourite. His drawings on Black Flag record sleeves introduced us to the wonderful world of contemporary art during the internetless 1990s. Pettibon depicts modern America through a myriad of angles whilst ambiguously severing these images from a narrative context. He combines his images - inspired by cartoons, art history and popular American culture - with handwritten text. His work is both personal and universal, and shows the sometimes dark side of our mind - which is also the case with this edition. Raymond Pettibon's unique drawings are now priceless, and even his editions usually cost many thousands of euros. This dark Christmas print is an excellent opportunity – it’s also our last copy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sanam Khatibi Wild Mink, 2018 Digital print on 100% Silk Twill, handrolled hemming - 113 x 120 cm Edition of 75 copies, signed and numbered on certificate €400

 

Nora Turato we felt it / stop calling me daddy, my kids are getting confused, 2019 Digital print on 100% Crepe de Chine Silk - 90 x 90 cm Edition of 50 copies, signed and numbered by the artist on certificate €350

 

Silk scarves are perfect for both summer and winter: in winter they keep you nice and warm, but in summer the silk stays wonderfully cool. We collaborated with two artists with very different artistic practices to make two unique silk scarves. Sanam Khatibi's figurative paintings show seductive nymphs in an Arcadian landscape, while Nora Turato's (typo)graphic designs refer to today's hectic (internet)culture. Two totally different styles, and yet we wouldn't be able to choose between the two scarves ourselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark Manders Study for Finished Sentence, 2004 Offset lithograph - 25,2 x 35,6 cm Edition of 100 copies, signed and numbered by the artist €750

 

Mark Manders is an exceptional artist, one who only appears once in a generation. Since 1986 - he was 18 at the time - Manders has been working on a practice that is an endless variation on one theme: self-portrait as a building. Every work he has made is part of and has a place in that building, and is a relentless attempt to translate individual identity - such as personal emotions and ideas - into sculptural space by means of text and objects. As a result, all the works are linked in an achronological way. This Study for a Finished Sentence is a fine example of this. The edition shows study sketches of the installation Finished Senctence (1998 - 2006) on top of an installation image of the same work - as if the study comes after the work. Last two copies!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rodrigo Hernández Galata, 2020 Acrylic, metal lacquer and color pencil on marbled paper - 33 x 45 cm Unique painting, made in a series of 7 variations €850

 

In Belgium, the work of Rodrigo Hernández has only been shown as part of our Billboard Series. Internationally, however, an awful lot is happening around this young Mexican artist. He shows his colourful papier-mâché sculptures and his paintings in the most prominent places for young talent - such as Pivô in São Paulo or Salts in Basel - and was selected for the prestigious Future Generation Art Prize which is shown every two years during the Biennale in Venice. Last month the art magazine Artforum wrote extremely lyrical about his recent exhibition in the Amsterdam gallery Fons Welters. In short, someone to keep an eye on! As part of our Billboard Series, Hernández also made a series of seven works on paper. The seven paintings on marbled paper each show an abstract human figure built up around the number seven. The title of the series refers to the district in Istanbul where Hernandez learned the traditional artisanal technique of marbling paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Philippe Vandenberg (Auc)Un Grand Amour Suffit Wool blend blanket - 160 x 200 cm This blanket is produced in an edition of 150 copies, unsigned and not numbered €365

 

This wool blanket is based on one of Philippe Vandenberg's iconic text drawings. We made it for Vandenberg’s exhibition which runs until the end of January in the Brussels Bozar. The ambiguous text '(Auc)Un Grand Amour Suffit' reminds us that without a valley there is no mountain. Or as our friends from the Goodcopy.ink collective wrote "the best words are those that feel like a warm blanket".

 

Only the next ten orders can still be delivered before Christmas, the subsequent orders will unfortunately only be able to be delivered from mid-January.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paul Kooiker from the series ‘Eggs and Rarities’, 2018 Inkjet print, archival ink on rag paper - 29,7 x 42 cm each Edition of 20 copies, signed an numbered by artist €760

 

Paul Kooiker created the series Eggs and Rarities for his large solo exhibition at the FoMu photo museum in Antwerp. FoMu curator Joachim Naudts writes: “… Paul Kooiker’s Encyclopaedia of Life in 164 images. This ambitious but utopian project reads like a sampler of photographic genres: landscape, nude, still life, etc. To achieve this, Kooiker often uses clichés more reminiscent of the propaganda of tourist brochures or of religious and political rhetoric in the media. Kooiker increasingly allows the personal to creep into the work. Intimate private photographs break through the seemingly objective approach so that public and private space spill over into each other. The result is one large work in which the complexity of things converge: the artist himself, the medium of photography, life and death.” There also appeared a publication with all 164 images - the encyclopaedia of life as described above. Together with this publication, an edition of two images from this series was produced – a fascinating photographic diptych!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kris Martin Idiot (table linen), 2020 Damask cotton - tablecloth 150 x 350 cm, napkin 50 x 50 cm €120 / €365 / €485

 

This year we are all faced with the challenge of filling in the holiday season in a slightly different matter. But whoever we celebrate with, a nicely dressed table remains a must for many of us. Ideal for this year's table arrangement: a damask woven tablecloth with matching napkins that artlead objects made with Kris Martin. In this table linen the word Idiot appears - almost invisibly woven into the artist's handwriting. Idiot is offered as a set of four napkins, a set of a tablecloth & eight napkins, and as a set of a tablecloth & twelve napkins. Eight to twelve napkins are undoubtedly too much for today’s lockdown-celebrations, but we are optistic and hope that we will soon be able to dine with friends again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jacqueline Mesmaeker SIRIUS, 2020 Digital barite print, embossed print and silkscreen on heavy cardboard - 50 x 70 cm Edition of 20 copies, signed and numbered by the artist on certificate €485

 

At the age of 91, Jacqueline Mesmaeker is probably the oldest active artist in Belgium. Last weekend the Raveelmuseum opened the third and final part of the exhibition triology that brought her work to CC Strombeek and Bozar earlier this year. She is undoubtedly also one of Belgium's most important artists, although her work has only come to the attention again in recent years. In Sirius Mesmaeker combines an embossed barite photo with a screen-printed text on heavy cardboard. But rather than contextualising the image, this assemblage of freely associated words clouds our reading with a multitude of low and high cultural references. Only the title gives us something to hold on to - Sirius is part of the constellation Canis Major and is the brightest star visible in the night sky. With this work Mesmaeker makes the overlooked visible, frames our gaze and generates a multitude of possible meanings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bob Eikelboom It's my way or the Highway, 2020 Steel, magnets, plastic - 25 x 31 cm Edition of 20 copies, signed and numbered by the artist €275

 

In our opinion, Bob Eikelboom is one of the most promising artists under the age of thirty in the Netherlands. He is best known for his ‘magnetic paintings’ – hybrids between painting, collage and wall sculpture – of which the artist says: “ they can be seen as a personal language that I have developed, in which collages are partly liberated from painting and as such play with the limitations of the flat surface. For this edition, Eikelboom made 20 different, vacuum-packed compositions, each with the same magnetic elements on a metal plate. Once activated (opened from its vacuum seal) and installed, the different magnets gradually escape the rigid structure of the work and spread through your house - on the fridge, the heater or the mirror.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tenth gift tip is the most difficult, as this list can easily be extended to the "20 gift tips for the end of 2020". That is why we invite you to scroll further on our website, click through and discovering for yourself. There are, for example, the porcelain-plaster wall sculptures by Sharon Van Overmeiren whose reference to summer ice creams are the perfect antidote for these cold and dark days. Or the delightful edition of Ann Veronica Janssens who – by means of five photographs of pink strips produced by clouds of water vapour – plays with perception, transparency and the play of light. Or rather something sculptural: Leo Gabin's unique and handmade series of cardboard models of typical houses from the suburbs of America - as it were a typology of the cradle of the American dream. Or the timeless series of Connected silkscreen prints by Nathalie Du Pasquier - recently mentioned in the Financial Times' How to Spend it as "one of the most exciting and relevant artists working today". And so we can continue. So our final tip is: click through!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The works from this list can be picked up free of charge in Brussels or delivered by insured courier shipment. In principle, all works ordered before Sunday evening can be delivered before Christmas. All works can also be framed on request. Feel free to inquire about prices. We are always available for any questions you might have on info@artlead.net

 

 

Happy holidays!