Michel François, Fence, 2016-2026. Photo offset, 40×25 cm. Courtesy the Artist and Art : Concept, Paris
Opening April 25, 2026 from 6pm.
Art : Concept is pleased to welcome Michel François to the gallery’s roster of artists.
Born in Sint-Truiden (Belgium) in 1956, Michel François lives and works in Brussels. Since the 1980s, he has developed a body of work in which sculpture serves as a structuring practice, inspiring photography, video, art installations, performance, curatorial projects, and, more recently, painting. This freedom in the choice of medium is matched by a rigorous reflection on space, matter, volume, and the conditions under which forms appear and disappear
Vue de l’exposition / Exhibition view Contre Nature, 2023, Bozar, Bruxelles/BE. Photo : Isabelle ArthuisLe monde et les bras, 1992. Photographies, poches de pantalons remplies de plâtre / Photographs, trouser pockets filled with plaster. Vue de l’exposition / Exhibition view Plans d’évasion, 2010, IAC, Villeurbanne/FR. Photo : Blaise AdilonVue de l’exposition / Exhibition view Panoptique, 2021, Centre International d’Art Verrier, Meisenthal/FR. Photo : Guy RebmeisterVue de l’exposition / Exhibition view Panoptique, 2021, Centre International d’Art Verrier, Meisenthal/FR. Photo : Guy RebmeisterVue de l’exposition / Exhibition view Plans d’évasion, 2010, IAC, Villeurbanne/FR. Photo : Blaise AdilonContamination (Pommes), 2006, Bois, bois brûlé / Wood, burned wood. Vue de l’exposition / Exhibition view Plans d’évasion, 2010, IAC, Villeurbanne/FR. Photo : Blaise AdilonFrom one another, 2020, cuir, bois caoutchouc / leather, wood and rubber. Vue de l’exposition / Exhibition view Contre Nature, 2023, Bozar, Bruxelles/BE. Photo : Isabelle ArthuisTrousers, 1991, plâtre, tissu, cordes / Plaster, fabric, ropes. 107 x 37 x 25 cm. Vue de l’exposition / Exhibition view Contre Nature, 2023, Bozar, Bruxelles/BE. Photo : Mina AlbespyHétérotopie (maquette), 2020-2023. Vue de l’exposition / Exhibition view Contre Nature, 2023, Bozar, Bruxelles/BE. Photo : Isabelle ArthuisHétérotopie (maquette), 2020-2023. Vue de l’exposition / Exhibition view Contre Nature, 2023, Bozar, Bruxelles/BE. Photo : Isabelle ArthuisSculpture à l’aveugle, 2022, Aluminium / Aluminium. Vue de l’exposition / Exhibition view Contre Nature, 2023, Bozar, Bruxelles/BE. Photo : Isabelle ArthuisSelfportrait, 2025 Plâtre, polystyrène, verre, acier / Plaster, polystyrene, glass, steel, 53 × 57 × 20 cm Vue de l’exposition / Exhibition view Contre Nature, 2023, Bozar, Bruxelles/BE. Photo : Isabelle ArthuisVue de l’exposition / Exhibition view Contre Nature, 2023, Bozar, Bruxelles/BE. Photo : Isabelle ArthuisEnroulement, 2010, Plâtre et néoprène / plaster and neoprene.Psycho jardin (détail/detail), 2009, Installation avec cactus, polystyrène, bois et bouteilles / Installation with cactuses, polystyrene wood and bottles. Vue de l’exposition / Exhibition view Plans d’évasion, 2010, IAC, Villeurbanne/FR. Photo : Blaise AdilonMéditerranée, 2016, Aluminium, photo imprimée sur une plaque d’aluminium /Cast aluminium, photograph printed on aluminium board, 126 x 180 x 90 cm . Photo : Mina AlbespyInstant Gratification, 2011, Bronze. Photo : Stuart WhippsVue de l’exposition / Exhibition view Pieces of evidence, 2014, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham/UK. Photo : Stuart WhippsNeons brisés (détail/detail), 2003-2014, Neons. Photo : Mina AlbespyVue de l’exposition / Exhibition view Pieces of evidence, 2014, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham/UK. Photo : Stuart WhippsVue de l’exposition / Exhibition view Pieces of evidence, 2014, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham/UK. Photo : Stuart WhippsCouple parfait, 2019, bouteilles, bougies / bottles, candles.Duo sculpture photo, 2023, Pull-over, 1992Vue de l’exposition / Exhibition view Panopticon, 2022, Yarat Contemporary Art Centre, AzerbaijanGolden cage, 2008, acier, feuilles d’or / steel, gold leafs, 250 x 400 x 300 cm. Vue de l’exposition / Exhibition view Plans d’évasion, 2010, IAC, Villeurbanne/FR. Photo : Blaise Adilon
Michel François (born in 1956), lives and works in Brussels, Belgium.
Fascinated by the gestures of everyday life and the tensions that they reveal, François has distinguished himself, since the 1980s, through a unique practice in which disorder and ambiguity reign. In parallel to his photographs being published as posters, and then in books format, the artist developped a specificapproach to sculpture and installation, where his works and images are often grouped, accumulated, and re-contextualized.
He has exhibited throughout Europe and abroad, including Documenta IX in Kassel (1992), the XXIInd Biennale de São Paulo (1994), the Kunsthalle in Bern (1999), the 48th Venice Biennale (1999), where he represented Belgium alongside Ann Veronica Janssens, Art Pace Foundation in San Antonio, Texas (2004), SMAK in Ghent and the IAC in Villeurbanne for Plans d’évasion (2009–2010), Mac’s at Grand Hornu for 45.000 affiches (2011), IKON Birmingham for Pieces of Evidence (2014), La Verrière, Hermès in Brussels for Philaetchouri with Ann Veronica Janssens (2015), the Biennale d’art contemporain in Rennes (2016), Wiels in Brussels for Le musée absent (2017), the Halle Verrière and the Centre International d’Art Verrier in Meisenthal for Panoptique (2021), Bozar in Brussels for Contre Nature (2023), and most recently the Palais de Tokyo in Paris for Toucher l’insensé (2024).
His work can be found in many private and public European collections.
Michel François : contre nature. Textes de François Piron, Eugène Savitzkaya, Ory Dessau, Christophe Slagmuylder, Michel François et Sylvain Courbois. Édition anglaise. [S.l.] : Bozar Books, 2023. 240 p. : ill. ; 27 cm. ISBN 978-9-07220-179-9.Michel François : Plans d’évasion. Textes de Guillaume Désanges. Préf. de Nathalie Ergino et Philippe Van Cauteren. Amsterdam : Roma Publications ; Gand : SMAK, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, 2010. 358 p. : ill. ; 27 cm. (Roma publications, n° 135). ISBN 978-90-77459-41-6. Textes en anglais et en français.Ann Veronica Janssens / Michel François. Textes de Guillaume Désanges. Édition anglaise. [S.l.] : [s.n.], 2022. 336 p. : ill. ; 29,5 cm. ISBN 978-1-7345275-9-9.Michel François : Pieces of Evidence. Texte de Herbert Martin. Birmingham : Ikon Gallery Ltd, 2014. ISBN 978-1-904864-92-9Michel François. La plante en nous. Göttingen : Steidl, 2001. ISBN 978-3-882437-65-2.
