Jan Kempenaers: Enjoy the Process is a substantial mid‐career survey of Jan Kempenaers’ new and recent work. Breese Little will present a focus on the Antwerp‐based artist’s output across the ground floor gallery, introducing the breadth of Kempenaers’ work beyond his most renowned images. This will include a number of photographic series and individual images largely unseen in this country, accompanied by Kempenaers’ recent experiments with screen‐printing and a full display of the artist’s books.

Kempenaers’ photographic body of work is highly considered and meticulously compiled. Most series are restricted to a few carefully chosen shots of striking compositions. A glimpse of the artist’s website shows this archiving procedure, which shaves down any surplus imagery in favour of crucially representative images. The photographer presents a spectacle of cities and nature linked by understatement. Unusual vantage points and vistas are achieved without the crutch of Photoshop, resulting in a characteristic purism. S.F. – L.A. (2010), on display for the first time in the UK at Breese Little, documents a road trip down the West Coast of America, privileging plants, trees and cacti along the route, whether in the desert or the central reservation of a highway.

Kempenaers is best known for the stark photographs of his Spomenik series, iconic images charting World War Two memorials commissioned by General Tito in the 1960s and ‘70s in the former Yugoslavia. Crucial to his career and recent development, a number of Spomeniks will feature in the exhibition, focusing on those that are not much exhibited in this country. The Spomeniks will be exhibited alongside new works entitled Ghost Spomeniks, monochrome re‐workings of Kempenaers’ original views of the monuments.

Screen‐printing was likewise the focus of a 2014 residency at Frans Masereel Centrum, Belgium, a departure from Kempenaers’ signature approach of rigorous structure into unusually free form images, initially inspired by a similar foray into abstract photography by Lázló Moholy‐Nagy (1895 ‐ 1946). Alongside his affiliation with KASK/School of Arts Ghent, Kempenaers collaborates on site‐specific social art integration projects and artist workshops. A recent initiative resulted in the artist book Satellite Building: Kasper Andreasen & Jan Kempenaers, which will be on display during Enjoy the Process, alongside Kempenaers’ photographic books with Roma Publications.

Jan Kempenaers (b. 1968, Heist op den Berg) lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium and is currently affiliated to KASK / School of Arts Ghent. The artist studied film and photography at the School of Arts Ghent from 1986 ‐ 91, and completed his PhD at the same institution in 2012. Recent solo exhibitions include Jan Kempenaers, Breese Little (2013), Spomenik, Fowler Museum, L.A. (2013), I’m not tailgating, I’m drafting, Stilll Gallery, Belgium (2013), Jan Kempenaers: Spomenik, Liquid Courage Gallery, Nassau (2013), Spomenik, Muziekgebouw aan ‘t lj, Amsterdam (2010), Recent Ruïns, Be Part, Waregem (2010), Spomenik, Middleimmuseum, Antwerp (2010) and Crown Gallery, Brussels (2006). Kempenaers’ was a participating artist in Back to the Future, Breese Little, London (2012), The Luxury of Dirt, Galerie Bob van Orsouw (2011), The Architecture Biennale, Venice, (2010) and Monolithes, FRAC Centre, Orleans (2010). Publications include I’m not tailgating, I’m drafting (2012), Bun Briste, Downpatrick Head (2012), Picturesque (2012) and Spomenik (2010). Many of the exhibited photographs are part of Kempenaers’ research project on contemporary picturesque generously funded by the Research Fund, University College Ghent, between 2006 and 2012. Forthcoming exhibitions include The Giant Impact Hypothesis, Paris (2014), Beyond Architecture, Paris (2014) and l’Architecture pour quelque chose, Triennale de Photographie et Architecture #5, Brussels (2015).

Breese Little Gallery

30b Great Sutton Street
London EC1V ODU United Kingdom
Ph. +44 (0)79 19416290
josephine@breeselittle.com
www.breeselittle.com

Opening hours

Wednesday - Saturday
From 12pm to 6pm or by appointment

Related images
  1. Spomenik #10 (Sanski Most), Jan Kempenaers, 2007, Archival Inkjet on Paper
  2. Transformer, Jan Kempenaers, 2014, Offsetprint, 50 x 59.5 cm, Breese Little
  3. Spomenik #7 (Grmeč), Jan Kempenaers,2007, Archival Inkjet on Paper
  4. Untitled No. 3, Jan Kempenaers, 2013, Lamdaprint, Breese Little
  5. Lost Spomenik (Kamenska), Jan Kempenaers, 2014, Offsetprint, 60 x 53.5 cm, Breese Little
  6. Untitled No. 2, Jan Kempenaers, 2013, Lambdaprint, Breese Little