Trust the artist, goes without saying for me. I appreciate the privilege of working with artists: their humanistic thinking, their knowledge rooted in practice, their studios as space for creativity... to me, all this seems crucial for our society.

The artists of this show only discovered the title of the exhibition when I sent out the invitation to the public. Curious to find out what they thought, I asked them to send me their reaction on the matter. Below, you will find some of their responses.

In each of them, I recognize the artist, his way of being and his vision of things. What emerges is a variety of personalities and approaches, which is what makes a contemporary art gallery such a rich experience.

(Francesco Rossi)

Trust the artist sounds like a call to believe in the accuracy of a perception, in the power of a discreet gesture. The artist doesn't impose; he proposes a presence — sometimes tenuous — but deeply rooted.

(Michel Mazzoni)

It made me smile. The first thing that came to my mind was: don't do it. Don't trust artists. Or trust them to doubt, to contradict, to lie sometimes, to handle reality, but with lucidity (really?).

(Charlotte Flamand)

Should we believe the one who shows us what we don't see?

(Vincent Everarts)

The fact that artists are considered unreliable is due to their wild imagination. They build their own world where they adapt reality to their ideas. But what is “reality”? With what ray of sunlight or shadow does reality shine? What was or seemed to be a moment ago has already disappeared and only becomes real when it has been brought to light, observed, fixed, shown and transmitted.

(Lore Stessel)

Trust the artist, he doesn't know where he's going...

(Emmanuel Tête)

But not just any artist and not just any work!

(P.B. Van Rossem)

The capital A indicates a key, whether a keystone or a door: does the Artist hold the truth? His truth, a truth, the truth of a parallel or perpendicular world? At first, I was looking for a spoonerism.

(Jean-François D'Or)

Trust artists. They also measure chance.

(Elke Van Kerckvoorde)

Trust is like fly-fishing without a rod, without water, without fish, while keeping the pot on the stove. Making art is the same: you hope for a good catch, but you're prepared for a wet sock.

(John Van Oers)

Trust the artist who follows his muse.

(David Quinn)

In our bellies, we're angry but we don't scream. In life we've been taught. That shouting is for losers. White-collar suits beat up losers. Instead of creating a pyre, we try to heat stones and place them on skins. Always this attempt. Our hands burning, not to burn ourselves or others. Thus, touched, the links are untied. Like soothing a candle. By wetting your fingers and then pressing, thumb and forefinger, on the wick.

(Jérôme Poloczek, excerpt from Catatastrophe, coming out in 2026, ed. Héros-Limite)

A good advertising slogan! It's quite the opposite of the more common version "Don't trust the artist" or "You can't trust the artist", as it's commonly assumed that the artist doesn't care about rules or laws when it comes to elaborating new visual or philosophical propositions.

(Kurt Ryslavy)

My first thought was: that's a good title; then I imagined it as a sign, in oblique type, in neon pink on a blue background, in the style of "Club Dorothée"...

(Marie Rosen)