THOMAS MAZZARELLA 

Thomas Mazzarella certainly had the intuition to recognize all that. He saw what was at work there and that he’d nothing to add, opting ‘just’ to depict the scene. Humble and of faith, and wanting to believe in this mutant beauty. Hardly surprising then if the objects he produces have an ex-voto air, taking up a ‘new primitive’ stance. Indeed, his small paintings frame the primitive existences of our own new era. Human representation invested with the anonymous character of beginnings. His protagonists are archetypical of the surfer, the layabout, the jobless. They’re like you and me: they gather stimuli. Life is an amusement park and you’ve got the right to have several goes. Here, alienation has the whiff of strawberry vanilla. Anyone care for another little scoop? (Clément Borre)

Thomas Mazzarella. Born in Charleroi in 1983. Lives and works in Brussels.

Solo exhibitions: 2023 Grass Whistle (with Liesbeth Van Heuverswijn), Rossicontemporary, Brussels 2021 Sunrise, Sunset, Rossicontemporary, Brussels 2019 Temps Nouveaux, Rossicontemporary, Brussels 2017 Que será, BPS22 Charleroi 2016 Paintings, Art Brussels, Brussels (with Rossicontemporary) 2015 De l'an 2000, Rossicontemporary, Brussels 2012 En voiture Simone, Rossicontemporary, Brussels; 1, 2, 3, piano, Le coin C, Knokke; 2011 Minute papillon, Rossicontemporary, Brussels 2010 Paintings, Rossicontemporary, Brussels

Group exhibitions: 2024 Rainbow High, mepaintsme.com 2023 Private Views, La Boverie, Liège 2022 Teen Spirit, BPS22, Charleroi 2021 Caterpillar, Galerie Slika, Lyon; Les mains dans les poches, Galerie des Multiples, Paris 2020 Prix Jean et Irene Ransy, Anciens Abattoirs de Mons, Mons 2019 Nationaal art fair, Vandenborght building, Brussels 2018 La collection de Jean-Marie Rikkers et Catharina Helsmoortel, private venue, Liège; Urbn, Points Culture, Bruxelles and other Belgian cities 2017 #Infintiteflowersplusone, Plus-One Gallery, Antwerpen 2016 Prix du Hainaut des Arts Plastiques, Keramis, la Louvière ; Illustre!, Centre de la gravure et de l'image imprimée, La Louvière; Au Lieu, Rossicontemporary, Brussels 2015 Meditations on a Hobby Horse, CIAP, Hasselt; Parfois l'énigme, Rossicontemporary, Bruxelles; Art Brussels, Bruxelles (with Rossicontemporary) 2014 Photo de groupe, Rossicontemporary, Bruxelles; Panorama, Rossicontemporary, Bruxelles 2013 Magnus Magnum, Studio Belleflamme, Liège; About waves 3/via het virtuele, Museum cultuur Strombeek, Gent 2012 L'art de l'irrévérence, espace Apollonia - Strasbourg; Blaque lyte, ADA Gallery, Richmond VA; De Pictura, Rossicontemporary, Brussels 2011 Truc Ahn & Thomas Mazzarella, AlbusLux, Rosendaal; L’art de l’irreverence, Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, Paris (touring to Espace Saint Antoine, Musée de la vie Wallonne, Liège) 2010 Long Modern Days, Hunting and Collecting, Bruxelles; Group Show, Slowboy Gallery, Dusseldorf; 100 Records, Gallery 16, San Francisco (touring to Okay Mountain, Austin; Disjecta, Portland; University of Oregon, Eugene, Comfortable on a Tightrope, Manchester); Hide and Seek, Krets, Malmö; Prix ArtsLibre, La Libre Belgique, Bruxelles; Ebb & Flow, Ter Dilft, Bornem 2009 Young Ones Award, The Border, Gent; Coup de Coeur & Audioguides, Rossicontemporary, Bruxelles; Sarah Magazine Auction, De Winkelhaak, Antwerpen & Actionfields, Bruxelles;Margot de Jager & Thomas Mazzarella, AlbusLux, Rosendaal 2008 Power to the People, Aeroplastics, Bruxelles; Pages Blanches, Les Brasseurs, Liège

Awards: 2010 Prix ArtsLibre, Brussels 2008 Prix Laureant Capitaine Marie, Liège; Prix Irène et Pierre Ransy, La Louvière 2007 Espace Galerie Flux, Liège; ArtContest, Brussels; Prix Finalist Collignon, MAMAC, Liège

Public collections: Collection Province de Hainaut

Bibliography: Gwennaëlle Gribaumont, À la lisière de l’onirisme et du surréalisme, in Arts Libre, 8 août 2021, p.22; Gilles Bechet, J’aime l’ennui du temps qui passe, in Bruzz, 01/09/2021, p. 44; Pierre Hemptinne, Thomas Mazzarella, in URBN EXPO, pg.36-37, PointCulture Bruxelles and other Belgian cities, 2018. Pierre-Olivier Rollin, Le Peintre est un joueur, in Thomas Mazzarella. Paintings 2007 – 2016, BPS 22, Charleroi, 2017; Clémént Borre, L’intuition de tout cela, ibidem; Dorothée Duvivier, Ce qui doit arriver, ibidem; Sandra Caltagirone, Modestes saynètes, in L'Art Même, n°74, 4e trimestre 2017, p. 53; Elien Haentjens, L'artiste du mois : Thomas Mazzarella, in Collect, novembre 2017, p. 18 - 19; Scott Indrisek, Unsellable Greens, Destroyed Paintings, and More at Art Brussels 2016,  in Blouin Art Info International, 21 April 2016; Clement Borre, Thomas Mazzarella, in  cat. exp. Thomas Mazzarella, Painting, Rossicontemporary, Bruxelles, 2016; Luc Lambrechts, Thomas Mazzarella,  in Museumcultuur Strombeek/Gent, MER Paper Kunsthalle, Gent, 2015, p. 54; Peter Pollers, Thomas Mazzarella, in cat. exp. Meditations on a Hobby Horse, CIAP, Hasselt, p. 14-15, 28; Nicola Setari, Thomas Mazzarella, in cat. exp. Via Het Virtuele III, Cultureel Centrum, Stroombeek Bever, 05/04/2013, p. 30; Eric Rinckhout, Virtuele wereld in echte verf, in De Morgen, 23 april 2013, p. 8; Roger Pierre Turine, Mazzarella, Thomas, in Petit guide de l'irrévérence au pays de Liège, Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, Paris, Centre wallon d’art contemporain La Châtaigneraie, Flemalle, Yellow Now, Liège, 2011, p. 91-96; Septembre Tiberghien, Rêver en Technicolor, in www.portraits-lagalerie.fr, mai 2011;  (s.t.), in De Standaard, 2/8/2010, p. 30; (s.t), in Knack, 14/7/2010, p. 22; Michèle Schoonjans, Récits populaires, in The Brussels Tribune, juillet 2010, n° 17, p. 6; An Devroe, Big City Bizarre, in Agenda Brussel Deze Week, 25.06.2010, n° 1236, p. 15; Rogier-Pierre Turine, Les silences de Thomas Mazzarella, in Arts Libre, 25.06.2010, n° 65, p. 1-2-3; Rogier-Pierre Turine, Les lieux discrets de Mazzarella, in AAA Collect, juin 2010, n° 410, p. 7; Ive Stevenheydens, De stad als netwerk, in Agenda Brussel Deze Week, 28.05.2010, n° 1232, p. 39; Rogier-Pierre Turine, Le petit théâtre humain de Thomas Mazzarella, in Arts Libre, 19.02.2010, n° 47, p. 1-2-3