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Jonathan Sullam 2022

Stay with me for an hour / /
13TH DECEMBER - 14TH DECEMBER / 08.00 -> 16.00
|Jonathan's Studio | 58 Rue De L'Indépendance, Molenbeek-St-Jean BE 1080 |

The Benefit Of The Eye / 2021

19 panels, 152 neons, DMX, Arduino, digital print on vinyl
(360 x 250 x 300 cm)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

In The Benefit of the Eye, the image is guessed at rather than seen directly, fragmented by the fluorescent tubes that act as its support. As far as the eye can see lies a devastated city. In the foreground, a violent explosion, the vertical blast of which embraces the entire structure, made from aluminium frames. A triple telescoping of comprehension is created – visual, temporal and geographic – of a landscape devastated by the Middle East at war and metal frames that evoke the ruins of the World Trade Center the day after the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. Although the work was created to be exhibited switched on, The Benefit of the Eye is nevertheless more or less condemned, long term, to exist switched off. Slowly, but inexorably, the gas will seep out from the fluorescent lights and these will not be replaced. The work therefore appears as a metaphor for the absolute necessity of documenting the world’s tragic events, because when the guns finally do fall silent, only memory will remain to recount the horror of conflict.

the benefit of the eye_v2_landscape jonathan sullam the benefit of the eye_v2_landscape jonathan sullam

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The Benefit Of The Eye / 2021

19 panels, 152 neons, DMX, Arduino, digital print on vinyl
(360 x 250 x 300 cm)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

In The Benefit of the Eye, the image is guessed at rather than seen directly, fragmented by the fluorescent tubes that act as its support. As far as the eye can see lies a devastated city. In the foreground, a violent explosion, the vertical blast of which embraces the entire structure, made from aluminium frames. A triple telescoping of comprehension is created – visual, temporal and geographic – of a landscape devastated by the Middle East at war and metal frames that evoke the ruins of the World Trade Center the day after the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. Although the work was created to be exhibited switched on, The Benefit of the Eye is nevertheless more or less condemned, long term, to exist switched off. Slowly, but inexorably, the gas will seep out from the fluorescent lights and these will not be replaced. The work therefore appears as a metaphor for the absolute necessity of documenting the world’s tragic events, because when the guns finally do fall silent, only memory will remain to recount the horror of conflict.

the benefit of the eye_v2_landscape jonathan sullam the benefit of the eye_v2_landscape jonathan sullam

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In light of our context / 2019

Print and neon lights
(123 x 30 x 40 cm)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio - Luk Vanderplaetse

Created for the performance Stretch by choreographer Isabella Soupart, Side by Side comprises two luminous sculptures and fluorescent tubes covered in images from the Hubble Space Telescope. The vision of these stars, many of which are already dead, gives substance to the idea of time perceived as an object, with its infinite dimensions. Time and space are also the materials used by the dancers directed by Isabella Soupart.

the benefit of the eye_v2_landscape jonathan sullam the benefit of the eye_v2_landscape jonathan sullam

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In light of our context / 2019

Print and neon lights
(120 x 30 x 40 cm)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio - Luk Vanderplaetse

Created for the performance Stretch by choreographer Isabella Soupart, Side by Side comprises two luminous sculptures and fluorescent tubes covered in images from the Hubble Space Telescope. The vision of these stars, many of which are already dead, gives substance to the idea of time perceived as an object, with its infinite dimensions. Time and space are also the materials used by the dancers directed by Isabella Soupart.

the benefit of the eye_v2_landscape jonathan sullam the benefit of the eye_v2_landscape jonathan sullam

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Knocking on heaven's door / 2018

Neons and aluminium structure (230 x 210 x 50 cm)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio


With its form inspired by the fences surrounding the camp at Guantanamo, the high security detention camp created by the USA in 2001on their military base in Cuba, this fragment of fencing also brings to mind the barriers erected by Europe to block migrant routes from the enclaves of Ceuta and Melila. Knocking on Heaven’s Door itself is not without risk: if shattered, these fragile fluorescent tubes would produce a myriad of sharp shards. This is a sound work, amplified by an electrical device that brings to mind the rock and roll accents of the work’s title – though more Guns N’ Roses than Dylan. The avant-garde utopia of minimal art, exemplified by Dan Flavin, shatters on the realities of contemporary history. This is a technological work which, one day, will be no more than a fossil, a Hadrian’s Wall for which a raison d’être will have to be reinvented. Lastly, and above all, this is a work which exists in two states, switched on and turned off. The cinema screen disappears and gives way to the film. Here the light becomes an insurmountable obstacle.

Knocking on heaven's door - 2018 - jonathan sullam

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01/05

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Knocking on heaven's door / 2018

Neons and aluminium structure
(230 x 210 x 50 cm)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

With its form inspired by the fences surrounding the camp at Guantanamo, the high security detention camp created by the USA in 2001on their military base in Cuba, this fragment of fencing also brings to mind the barriers erected by Europe to block migrant routes from the enclaves of Ceuta and Melila. Knocking on Heaven’s Door itself is not without risk: if shattered, these fragile fluorescent tubes would produce a myriad of sharp shards. This is a sound work, amplified by an electrical device that brings to mind the rock and roll accents of the work’s title – though more Guns N’ Roses than Dylan. The avant-garde utopia of minimal art, exemplified by Dan Flavin, shatters on the realities of contemporary history. This is a technological work which, one day, will be no more than a fossil, a Hadrian’s Wall for which a raison d’être will have to be reinvented. Lastly, and above all, this is a work which exists in two states, switched on and turned off. The cinema screen disappears and gives way to the film. Here the light becomes an insurmountable obstacle.

Knocking on heaven's door - 2018 - jonathan sullam

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01/05

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Tribute to the unknown performer II / 2019

Mirror Vinyl, printed image on neons and golden microphone
(size: site specific)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography Luk Vanderplaetse

A series of art installations bore witness to the very close collaboration between Jonathan Sullam and choreographer Isabella Soupart in Stretch, presented at the Brussels Mode & Design Center (MAD) in 2019. The meeting reflected the numerous affinities between the artists’ respective approaches and in particular the active role that both confer on the spectator. For Isabella Soupart, space takes shape thanks to the dancers, whilst for Jonathan Sullam, it is the onlooker who often conditions the work’s very existence. All installations include the recurrent elements of reflective surfaces and fluorescent tubes. Microphones too play a central role in the set design: in Talking Loud Saying Nothing (2018), it is as if they are fossilized in bronze, whilst in Stretch, although the microphones were functional, it was how they were arranged in space that conferred upon their use, obliging dancers to adopt complex postures in what became the perfect symbiosis of choreographic creation and the plastic arts. Tribute to the unknown performer II uses recurring elements from Jonathan Sullam’s work: reflective surfaces, light and sound. This installation evokes a meeting between terrestrial space and time, such as that appropriated by the dancers and indeed that of the universe, represented by images from the Hubble Telescope, placed on the fluorescent tubes.

Courtesy MAD, H&B and CFWB.

jonathan sullam

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01/05

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Tribute to the unknown performer II / 2019

Mirror Vinyl, printed image on neons and golden microphone
(size: site specific)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography Luk Vanderplaetse

A series of art installations bore witness to the very close collaboration between Jonathan Sullam and choreographer Isabella Soupart in Stretch, presented at the Brussels Mode & Design Center (MAD) in 2019. The meeting reflected the numerous affinities between the artists’ respective approaches and in particular the active role that both confer on the spectator. For Isabella Soupart, space takes shape thanks to the dancers, whilst for Jonathan Sullam, it is the onlooker who often conditions the work’s very existence. All installations include the recurrent elements of reflective surfaces and fluorescent tubes. Microphones too play a central role in the set design: in Talking Loud Saying Nothing (2018), it is as if they are fossilized in bronze, whilst in Stretch, although the microphones were functional, it was how they were arranged in space that conferred upon their use, obliging dancers to adopt complex postures in what became the perfect symbiosis of choreographic creation and the plastic arts. Tribute to the unknown performer II uses recurring elements from Jonathan Sullam’s work: reflective surfaces, light and sound. This installation evokes a meeting between terrestrial space and time, such as that appropriated by the dancers and indeed that of the universe, represented by images from the Hubble Telescope, placed on the fluorescent tubes.

Courtesy MAD, H&B and CFWB.

jonathan sullam

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01/05

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Talking Loud Saying Nothing / 2018

Bronze microphone and stand (184x50x50 cm)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

Velvet Underground and Ring of Fire are two complementary works, one of which focuses on plenitude and the other on emptiness. They constitute a sort of homage, both to avant-garde art and pop culture of the American sixties: metallic forms painted in an industrial manner evoke both minimalism and the bodywork of those huge, powerful 1960s cars, whilst the titles recall the country’s history of rock music. Expansion is part of the same approach, a sculpture that mimes a manufactured object, speckled with holographic sequins.

jonathan sullam jonathan sullam jonathan sullam

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Talking Loud Saying Nothing / 2018

Fender amp replica in bronze
(23x45x39 cm)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

The bronze microphones of this work, devoid of any cable, appear as objects that have become petrified and rendered unusable by time. Moreover, their position, on the floor or resting against a wall, suggests that their raison d’être has also been lost. What were these instruments used for? More than one answer is possible: perhaps for singing, for broadcasting messages of peace, or even calls to hate?

jonathan sullam jonathan sullam jonathan sullam

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A touch of silence / 2021

Fender amp replica in bronze
(23x45x39 cm)

Text by JS
Photography hv-studio

In this artwork bronze has its place. Seen as a material that bears the mark of time, but also tweaking its nature to both fit concepts of weight and delicacy. When it comes to weight, the bronze guitar amp figures like an immovable stone or a fossil oxidising by touch when displaced. The artwork’s loss of function and the bronze natural reactive properties give it an artifact genre, forcing one to reconsider the relationship an object has with its user and environment.

jonathan sullam

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01/05

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A touch of silence / 2021

Bronze microphone and stand (184x50x50 cm)

Text by JS
Photography hv-studio

In this artwork bronze has its place. Seen as a material that bears the mark of time, but also tweaking its nature to both fit concepts of weight and delicacy. When it comes to weight, the bronze guitar amp figures like an immovable stone or a fossil oxidising by touch when displaced. The artwork’s loss of function and the bronze natural reactive properties give it an artifact genre, forcing one to reconsider the relationship an object has with its user and environment.

jonathan sullam

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01/05

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Slow burn / 2021

8 panels, 44 neons, DMX, Arduino, digital print on vinyl (360 x 250 x 300 cm)

Text by JS
Photography hv-studio

In Slow Burn, the artwork re-activates collective history by animating through light a journalistic image. The image representing the destruction of Raqqa in Syria is just like The benefit of the eye - printed, cut and wrapped around each neons within the eight panels. The striated image, stands with fifty percent removed from its representation, requiring a reading by caesura. Up close the image is blurry, the onlooker being compelled to distance himself in order to decipher it. The light intensity varies like slow breathing giving time to read the image but also the burden of choosing when to look away.

previous

next

01/05

back to works

Slow burn / 2021

8 panels, 44 neons, DMX, Arduino, digital print on vinyl
(360 x 250 x 300 cm)

Text by JS
Photography hv-studio

In Slow Burn, the artwork re-activates collective history by animating through light a journalistic image. The image representing the destruction of Raqqa in Syria is just like The benefit of the eye - printed, cut and wrapped around each neons within the eight panels. The striated image, stands with fifty percent removed from its representation, requiring a reading by caesura. Up close the image is blurry, the onlooker being compelled to distance himself in order to decipher it. The light intensity varies like slow breathing giving time to read the image but also the burden of choosing when to look away.

previous

next

01/05

back to works

Tribute to the unknown singer / 2019

Printed vinyl, LED lighting and golden microphone
(size: site specific)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

A series of installations and other works bore witness to the very close collaboration between Jonathan Sullam and choreographer Isabella Soupart when Isabella’s show Stretch was presented at the Brussels Mode & Design Center (MAD) in 2019. The meeting reflected the numerous affinities between the artists’ respective approaches and in particular the active role that both confer on the spectator. For Isabella Soupart, space takes shape thanks to the dancers, whilst for Jonathan Sullam, it is the onlooker who often conditions the work’s very existence. Jonathan Sullam’s Tribute to the Unknown Singer, Red is loud and Tribute to the Unknown Performer all include the recurrent elements of reflective surfaces and fluorescent tubes. Microphones too play a central role in the set design: in Talking Loud Saying Nothing (2018), it is as if they are fossilized in bronze, whilst in Stretch, although the microphones were functional, it was how they were arranged in space that conferred upon their use a difficulty that was as symbolic as practical, obliging the dancers to adopt complex postures in what became the perfect symbiosis of choreographic creation and the plastic arts. Created as part of a performance with choreographer Isabella Soupart, Tribute to the Unknown Singer placed an apparently functional microphone on the stage, but in a position that rendered it unusable for its primary function of transmitting sound. This installation symbolically evoked restricting the liberty of expression – the impossibility of making a statement – a situation that the dancers attempted to reverse by finding the appropriate position to, quite literally, give voice to their feelings.

Courtesy MAD, H&B and CFWB.

previous

next

01/05

back to works

Tribute to the unknown singer / 2019

Printed vinyl, LED lighting and golden microphone
(size: site specific)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

A series of installations and other works bore witness to the very close collaboration between Jonathan Sullam and choreographer Isabella Soupart when Isabella’s show Stretch was presented at the Brussels Mode & Design Center (MAD) in 2019. The meeting reflected the numerous affinities between the artists’ respective approaches and in particular the active role that both confer on the spectator. For Isabella Soupart, space takes shape thanks to the dancers, whilst for Jonathan Sullam, it is the onlooker who often conditions the work’s very existence. Jonathan Sullam’s Tribute to the Unknown Singer, Red is loud and Tribute to the Unknown Performer all include the recurrent elements of reflective surfaces and fluorescent tubes. Microphones too play a central role in the set design: in Talking Loud Saying Nothing (2018), it is as if they are fossilized in bronze, whilst in Stretch, although the microphones were functional, it was how they were arranged in space that conferred upon their use a difficulty that was as symbolic as practical, obliging the dancers to adopt complex postures in what became the perfect symbiosis of choreographic creation and the plastic arts. Created as part of a performance with choreographer Isabella Soupart, Tribute to the Unknown Singer placed an apparently functional microphone on the stage, but in a position that rendered it unusable for its primary function of transmitting sound. This installation symbolically evoked restricting the liberty of expression – the impossibility of making a statement – a situation that the dancers attempted to reverse by finding the appropriate position to, quite literally, give voice to their feelings.

Courtesy MAD, H&B and CFWB.

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01/05

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Tribute to the unknown performer I / 2019

Black and White print on wallpaper, plexi glass, neon, Golden and silver microphones (size: site specific)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

A series of art installations bore witness to the close collaboration between Jonathan Sullam and choreographer Isabella Soupart in Stretch, presented at the Brussels Mode & Design Center (MAD). The meeting reflected the numerous affinities between the artists’ respective approaches and in particular the active role that both confer on the spectator. For Isabella Soupart, space takes shape thanks to the dancers, whilst for Jonathan Sullam, it is the onlooker who often conditions the work’s very existence. All installations include the recurrent elements of reflective surfaces and fluorescent tubes. Microphones play a central role in the set design, although the microphones were functional, it was how they were arranged in space that conferred upon their use, obliging dancers to adopt complex postures in what became the perfect symbiosis of choreographic creation and the plastic arts. The accent is on stage performance, on the way in which dancers take possession of space, as opposed to sound and voice.

Courtesy MAD, H&B and CFWB.

jonathan sullam - Tribute to the unknown performer - 2019

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Tribute to the unknown performer I / 2019

Black and White print on wallpaper, plexi glass, neon, Golden and silver microphones
(size: site specific)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

A series of art installations bore witness to the close collaboration between Jonathan Sullam and choreographer Isabella Soupart in Stretch, presented at the Brussels Mode & Design Center (MAD). The meeting reflected the numerous affinities between the artists’ respective approaches and in particular the active role that both confer on the spectator. For Isabella Soupart, space takes shape thanks to the dancers, whilst for Jonathan Sullam, it is the onlooker who often conditions the work’s very existence. All installations include the recurrent elements of reflective surfaces and fluorescent tubes. Microphones play a central role in the set design, although the microphones were functional, it was how they were arranged in space that conferred upon their use, obliging dancers to adopt complex postures in what became the perfect symbiosis of choreographic creation and the plastic arts. The accent is on stage performance, on the way in which dancers take possession of space, as opposed to sound and voice.

Courtesy MAD, H&B and CFWB.

jonathan sullam - Tribute to the unknown performer - 2019

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01/05

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Red is loud/ 2019

Red plexi, home made golden microphones, cables


Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography Luk Vanderplaetse

A series of installations and other works bore witness to the very close collaboration between Jonathan Sullam and choreographer Isabella Soupart when Isabella’s show Stretch was presented at the Brussels Mode & Design Center (MAD) in 2019. The meeting reflected the numerous affinities between the artists’ respective approaches and in particular the active role that both confer on the spectator. For Isabella Soupart, space takes shape thanks to the dancers, whilst for Jonathan Sullam, it is the onlooker who often conditions the work’s very existence.
Red is loud includes recurrent elements of reflective surfaces and fluorescent tubes. Microphones play a central role in the set design: in Talking Loud Saying Nothing (2018), it is as if they are fossilized in bronze, whilst in Stretch, although the microphones were functional, it was how they were arranged in space that conferred upon their use a difficulty that was as symbolic as practical, obliging the dancers to adopt complex postures in what became the perfect symbiosis of choreographic creation and the plastic arts. Microphones resting against a wall, ready to function but rendered silent by their positioning. The red background and golden metal are colour codes that remind us of the sumptuous ceremonies for which the world of entertainment holds the secret, but this time it is difficult to be heard, to be the centre of attention.

Courtesy MAD, H&B and CFWB.

previous

next

01/05

back to works

Red is loud/ 2019

Red plexi, home made golden microphones, cables


Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography Luk Vanderplaetse

A series of installations and other works bore witness to the very close collaboration between Jonathan Sullam and choreographer Isabella Soupart when Isabella’s show Stretch was presented at the Brussels Mode & Design Center (MAD) in 2019. The meeting reflected the numerous affinities between the artists’ respective approaches and in particular the active role that both confer on the spectator. For Isabella Soupart, space takes shape thanks to the dancers, whilst for Jonathan Sullam, it is the onlooker who often conditions the work’s very existence.
Red is loud includes recurrent elements of reflective surfaces and fluorescent tubes. Microphones play a central role in the set design: in Talking Loud Saying Nothing (2018), it is as if they are fossilized in bronze, whilst in Stretch, although the microphones were functional, it was how they were arranged in space that conferred upon their use a difficulty that was as symbolic as practical, obliging the dancers to adopt complex postures in what became the perfect symbiosis of choreographic creation and the plastic arts. Microphones resting against a wall, ready to function but rendered silent by their positioning. The red background and golden metal are colour codes that remind us of the sumptuous ceremonies for which the world of entertainment holds the secret, but this time it is difficult to be heard, to be the centre of attention.

Courtesy MAD, H&B and CFWB.

previous

next

01/05

back to works

Expansion /
2019

Industrial paint, holographic glitter on warped stainless steel
(150 x 120 x 35 cm)


Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

Expansion and Ring of Fire are two complementary works, one of which focuses on plenitude and the other on emptiness. They constitute a sort of homage, both to avant-garde art and pop culture of the American sixties: metallic forms painted in an industrial manner evoke both minimalism and the bodywork of those huge, powerful 1960s cars. Expansion is part of the same approach, a sculpture that mimes a manufactured object, speckled with holographic sequins.

jonathan sullam - Expansion - 2019 jonathan sullam - Expansion - 2019 jonathan sullam - Expansion - 2019

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01/05

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Expansion / 2019

Industrial paint, holographic glitter on warped stainless steel
(150 x 120 x 35 cm)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

Expansion and Ring of Fire are two complementary works, one of which focuses on plenitude and the other on emptiness. They constitute a sort of homage, both to avant-garde art and pop culture of the American sixties: metallic forms painted in an industrial manner evoke both minimalism and the bodywork of those huge, powerful 1960s cars. Expansion is part of the same approach, a sculpture that mimes a manufactured object, speckled with holographic sequins.

jonathan sullam - Expansion - 2019 jonathan sullam - Expansion - 2019

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01/05

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Velvet Under ground / 2019

Industrial paint on warped stainless steel
(120 x 160 x 40 cm)


Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

Velvet Underground constitutes a sort of homage, both to avant-garde art and pop culture of the American sixties: metallic forms painted in an industrial manner evoke both minimalism and the bodywork of those huge, powerful 1960s cars, whilst the title recalls the country’s history of rock music. It is a sculpture that mimes a manufactured object, depicting modernist referencies and plays on the direct relationship between architectural space and painting. As the surface folds, the back panel reveals a mirror polished surface, offering a view of the surrounding room. The painting is jointed as a literal collage to the reflected space in the bottom fold.

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01/05

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Velvet Underground / 2019

Industrial paint on warped stainless steel
(120 x 160 x 40 cm)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

Velvet Underground constitutes a sort of homage, both to avant-garde art and pop culture of the American sixties: metallic forms painted in an industrial manner evoke both minimalism and the bodywork of those huge, powerful 1960s cars, whilst the title recalls the country’s history of rock music. It is a sculpture that mimes a manufactured object, depicting modernist referencies and plays on the direct relationship between architectural space and painting. As the surface folds, the back panel reveals a mirror polished surface, offering a view of the surrounding room. The painting is jointed as a literal collage to the reflected space in the bottom fold.

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next

01/05

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Champagne Taste Lemonade Money / 2015

Aluminium black-coated disk, holographic powder and light projector
(200 x 200 cm)


Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography Mikael Falke

Lighted by a projector, the circular piece resting on the floor looks like a deserted podium, where only the golden sequins remain, the traces of a show that has just finished. It still floats amid an atmosphere of glamour, like the bubbles in a flute of champagne, but it’s just everyday life and a simple lemonade that has reclaimed its rights.

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01/05

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Champagne Taste Lemonade Money / 2015

Aluminium black-coated disk, holographic powder and light projector (200 x 200 cm)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography Mikael Falke

Lighted by a projector, the circular piece resting on the floor looks like a deserted podium, where only the golden sequins remain, the traces of a show that has just finished. It still floats amid an atmosphere of glamour, like the bubbles in a flute of champagne, but it’s just everyday life and a simple lemonade that has reclaimed its rights.

previous

next

01/05

back to works

Delight
and Glory
/ 2018

Digital framed print
(183x120cm)


Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

The image is what remains of an effort, which was successful, to create an installation that produced a rainbow in an interior, using a prism and a highly sophisticated projector. Mimicking the sunlight, like a poetic echo of minimal art with neon lighting.

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01/05

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Delight and Glory / 2018

Digital framed print (183x120cm)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

The image is what remains of an effort, which was successful, to create an installation that produced a rainbow in an interior, using a prism and a highly sophisticated projector. Mimicking the sunlight, like a poetic echo of minimal art with neon lighting.

previous

next

01/05

back to works

Inherent Drama / 2016

Plastic mould of engine & industrial pain
(40 x 30 x 40 cm)


Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography Mikael Falke

A petrol pump motor moulded in plastic, a derivative of petroleum. The figures on the pump that record how much fuel has been purchased also form a temporal counter, metaphorically taking us to the years that separate us from the moment when fossil fuels will finally be exhausted for ever. Time, a soft material, is fixed here and repainted in the colours of a customised ‘low-rider’, a practice that will also finally disappear contemporaneously with the last drops of petrol on earth. The artwork reflects the passing of time, an object bearing witness to civilization’s ways and a sense of uselessness and self-deprivation. But in their frozen state, or as relics of the past, they also embrace a new, contemplative identity, however frail the idea of their use and purpose.

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01/05

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Inherent Drama / 2016

Plastic mould of engine & industrial pain
(40 x 30 x 40 cm)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography Mikael Falke

A petrol pump motor moulded in plastic, a derivative of petroleum. The figures on the pump that record how much fuel has been purchased also form a temporal counter, metaphorically taking us to the years that separate us from the moment when fossil fuels will finally be exhausted for ever. Time, a soft material, is fixed here and repainted in the colours of a customised ‘low-rider’, a practice that will also finally disappear contemporaneously with the last drops of petrol on earth. The artwork reflects the passing of time, an object bearing witness to civilization’s ways and a sense of uselessness and self-deprivation. But in their frozen state, or as relics of the past, they also embrace a new, contemplative identity, however frail the idea of their use and purpose.

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next

01/05

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WTC /
2019

Industrial paint on stainless steel
(210 x 100 cm )


Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

Leaning against a wall, WTC appears to be a metal grid of great lightness. Made up of quadrilaterals, whose dimensions become gradually smaller towards the base of the work, and with blended shades of blue going from light to dark, it nevertheless represents, with great economy of means, the weight of a fall, the fall of a body that jumps into the void from the top of the blazing World Trade Center.




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01/05

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WTC / 2019

Industrial paint on stainless steel
(210 x 100 cm )

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

Leaning against a wall, WTC appears to be a metal grid of great lightness. Made up of quadrilaterals, whose dimensions become gradually smaller towards the base of the work, and with blended shades of blue going from light to dark, it nevertheless represents, with great economy of means, the weight of a fall, the fall of a body that jumps into the void from the top of the blazing World Trade Center.

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01/05

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Not so distant/ 2014

8 Framed Multimedia silkscreen print
(300 x 220 cm)


Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

Jonathan Sullam’s silkscreen prints are relevant to image processing work. They are the product of a digital printing technique on photographic paper, and an image enhancement through the use of black lacquerpaint. The selected images feature collage compositions or reappropriated images conveying landscapes in contradiction with their own weight, or in a state of free fall. This enhancement approach, attempting to penetrate the image’s texture and essence, is intentionally applied to convey maintained support to the free fall situation. Not So Distant is a collage of multiple printing and lacquer screen-printing technique. The lacquer screen-printing is only used to highlight printed photography in the attempt to withhold the image or its representation. It seeks a relational character between the ‘decay’ or ‘fall’ of an image and the simple fixing gesture of underlining or highlighting with black lacquer darker areas. In this instance, Not so distant is an attempt to withhold the dramatic fall of the deep water horizon oil rig that went down in 2010 in the waters of New Mexico.

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Not so distant/ 2014

8 Framed Multimedia silkscreen print
(300 x 220 cm)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

Jonathan Sullam’s silkscreen prints are relevant to image processing work. They are the product of a digital printing technique on photographic paper, and an image enhancement through the use of black lacquerpaint. The selected images feature collage compositions or reappropriated images conveying landscapes in contradiction with their own weight, or in a state of free fall. This enhancement approach, attempting to penetrate the image’s texture and essence, is intentionally applied to convey maintained support to the free fall situation. Not So Distant is a collage of multiple printing and lacquer screen-printing technique. The lacquer screen-printing is only used to highlight printed photography in the attempt to withhold the image or its representation. It seeks a relational character between the ‘decay’ or ‘fall’ of an image and the simple fixing gesture of underlining or highlighting with black lacquer darker areas. In this instance, Not so distant is an attempt to withhold the dramatic fall of the deep water horizon oil rig that went down in 2010 in the waters of New Mexico.

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Board of Bills /
2014

Mirror-polished aluminium structure with neons
(400 x 180 x 300 cm)


Text by JS
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography Mikael Falke

‘Board of Bills’, a sculptural installation, is a scaled-down advertising billboard made of a polished reflective aluminium surface. Its slightly decayed structural appearance denotes wear and tear due to ageing. No image is displayed. The panel merely reflects or deforms the surrounding landscape. Punctuating the urban landscape, it becomes itself an integral part of it. This framed panorama is seen by the onlooker as a witness of the ‘here and now’ of our existence. The title “Board of Bills” is a syntax reversal of the term “bill board”, which signifies “poster” or “advertising panel”. The ancient Egyptians used obelisks to proclaim laws and treaties which formed the basis of the civic code; the advertising panel is therefore not a free market invention, merely a “softer” control system and a more modern way of promoting the message. Using this specific advertising medium, the installation attempts to reflect its multiple functions: a place of worship for both imagery and information, a norm, plus the projection of intimate desires throughout the surrounding space.

Courtesy Province de Liège

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Board of Bills /
2014

Mirror-polished aluminium structure with neons
(400 x 180 x 300 cm)

Text by JS
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography Mikael Falke

‘Board of Bills’, a sculptural installation, is a scaled-down advertising billboard made of a polished reflective aluminium surface. Its slightly decayed structural appearance denotes wear and tear due to ageing. No image is displayed. The panel merely reflects or deforms the surrounding landscape. Punctuating the urban landscape, it becomes itself an integral part of it. This framed panorama is seen by the onlooker as a witness of the ‘here and now’ of our existence. The title “Board of Bills” is a syntax reversal of the term “bill board”, which signifies “poster” or “advertising panel”. The ancient Egyptians used obelisks to proclaim laws and treaties which formed the basis of the civic code; the advertising panel is therefore not a free market invention, merely a “softer” control system and a more modern way of promoting the message. Using this specific advertising medium, the installation attempts to reflect its multiple functions: a place of worship for both imagery and information, a norm, plus the projection of intimate desires throughout the surrounding space.

Courtesy Province de Liège

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Board of Bills /
Mons 2015

Mirror-polished aluminium structure, LED plus by Osram
(840 x 420 x 200 cm)


Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography Mikael Falke

In the United States of America and Mexico, the omnipresence of huge advertising billboards, in city centres and along deserted highways, bears witness to a desire to privatise fragments of public spaces in order to carry a message – whether commercial, political or religious. In contrast to these billboards, Jonathan Sullam’s Board of Bills widens the landscape rather than amputating it. Every component part of the structure, including even the screws used to mount it, is polished like a mirror. The work lies within the prolongation of Gordon Matta-Clark’s and Christo’s approach, for whom ‘addition’ consisted firstly of subtraction. The billboard reflects its environment as well as merging with it, by day and by night. Its presence in an outdoor car park reminds us of drive-in cinemas, but here, the film spills over from the screen which is no long the focus of our attention. The work itself invites us to look elsewhere. Indeed, its subject goes beyond your first impressions.

Commissioned by BPS22 and Mons 2015 for city of Thuin.

Courtesy of Dorothée Duvivier, BPS22, Paul Furlan, André Louis, Matelek, OTThuin.

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Board of Bills – Mons / 2015

Mirror-polished aluminium structure, LED plus by Osram
(840 x 420 x 200 cm)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography Mikael Falke

In the United States of America and Mexico, the omnipresence of huge advertising billboards, in city centres and along deserted highways, bears witness to a desire to privatise fragments of public spaces in order to carry a message – whether commercial, political or religious. In contrast to these billboards, Jonathan Sullam’s Board of Bills widens the landscape rather than amputating it. Every component part of the structure, including even the screws used to mount it, is polished like a mirror. The work lies within the prolongation of Gordon Matta-Clark’s and Christo’s approach, for whom ‘addition’ consisted firstly of subtraction. The billboard reflects its environment as well as merging with it, by day and by night. Its presence in an outdoor car park reminds us of drive-in cinemas, but here, the film spills over from the screen which is no long the focus of our attention. The work itself invites us to look elsewhere. Indeed, its subject goes beyond your first impressions.

Commissioned by BPS22 and Mons 2015 for city of Thuin.

Courtesy of Dorothée Duvivier, BPS22, Paul Furlan, André Louis, Matelek, OTThuin.

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It’s All Going south from now on /
2014

Polished and broken glass
(110 x 7 cm)


Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

An object is first and foremost whatever one does with it. A microphone, for instance, can be used to recite odes to liberty but also a call to hate. The baseball bat reminds us equally of the corpore sano of a certain USA, united behind its favourite sport, but also of the violence in a fight between rival gangs. Such an ambiguity can be found in the material used, the wax or glass, that makes this instrument - originally destined to receive (or to give) violent blows - fragile. Indeed, the baseball bat has been fractured in the most solid place, the part least susceptible to break.

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It’s All Going south from now on /
2014

Polished and broken glass
(110 x 7 cm)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

An object is first and foremost whatever one does with it. A microphone, for instance, can be used to recite odes to liberty but also a call to hate. The baseball bat reminds us equally of the corpore sano of a certain USA, united behind its favourite sport, but also of the violence in a fight between rival gangs. Such an ambiguity can be found in the material used, the wax or glass, that makes this instrument - originally destined to receive (or to give) violent blows - fragile. Indeed, the baseball bat has been fractured in the most solid place, the part least susceptible to break.

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Eternally Temporary
2013

Light box print (80 x 70cm) or framed print (190 x 150 cm)


Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

Words and songs. The power of words is important; it has become even more so today with the Internet. The arrival of worldwide digital networks has not only brought about a huge rise in the number of images in circulation; it also coincides with mutations in language that make it more than ever necessary to evaluate words and their significance. Fake news for some is merely ‘alternative facts’ for others. Eternally Temporary is an oxymoron, an impossibility that brings to mind, a contrario, a notion born of the digital age, that of ‘real time’. Eternally Temporary, which here designates words traced in the condensation of a window, might also relate to the online storage of data, kept for a relative eternity and in physical locations that are always temporary. Unless this is rather a nod to rock and Britpop: Definitely Maybe.

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Eternally Temporary
/ 2013

Light box print (80 x 70cm) or framed print (190 x 150 cm)


Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

Words and songs. The power of words is important; it has become even more so today with the Internet. The arrival of worldwide digital networks has not only brought about a huge rise in the number of images in circulation; it also coincides with mutations in language that make it more than ever necessary to evaluate words and their significance. Fake news for some is merely ‘alternative facts’ for others. Eternally Temporary is an oxymoron, an impossibility that brings to mind, a contrario, a notion born of the digital age, that of ‘real time’. Eternally Temporary, which here designates words traced in the condensation of a window, might also relate to the online storage of data, kept for a relative eternity and in physical locations that are always temporary. Unless this is rather a nod to rock and Britpop: Definitely Maybe.

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BlackOut /
2012

Mixed printing media
(120 x 80 cm)


Text by JS
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography Gianpaolo Lauretta

The lacquer screen-printing technique is only used to highlight printed photography in the attempt to withhold the image or its representation. It seeks a relational character between the ‘decay’ or ‘fall’ of an image and the simple fixing gesture of underlining or highlighting with black lacquer darker areas. The black cloud is both a negative, inverted cloud but also can be understood as a volume or a hole in which a landscape of clouds can be seen. The symbolical weight is then withheld by its imagery status, flanked upon a wall.

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BlackOut / 2012

Mixed printing media
(120 x 80 cm)

Text by JS
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography Gianpaolo Lauretta.

The lacquer screen-printing technique is only used to highlight printed photography in the attempt to withhold the image or its representation. It seeks a relational character between the ‘decay’ or ‘fall’ of an image and the simple fixing gesture of underlining or highlighting with black lacquer darker areas. The black cloud is both a negative, inverted cloud but also can be understood as a volume or a hole in which a landscape of clouds can be seen. The symbolical weight is then withheld by its imagery status, flanked upon a wall.

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Board of Bills /
2016

Mirror-polished aluminium structure and neons
(840 x 420 x 200 cm)


Text by JS
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography Mikael Falke

In the United States of America and Mexico, the omnipresence of huge advertising billboards, in city centres and along deserted highways, bears witness to a desire to privatise fragments of public spaces in order to carry a message – whether commercial, political or religious. In contrast to these billboards, Jonathan Sullam’s Board of Bills widens the landscape rather than amputating it. Every component part of the structure, including even the screws used to mount it, is polished like a mirror. The work lies within the prolongation of Gordon Matta-Clark’s and Christo’s approach, for whom ‘addition’ consisted firstly of subtraction. The billboard reflects its environment as well as merging with it, by day and by night. Its presence in an outdoor car park reminds us of drive-in cinemas, but here, the film spills over from the screen which is no long the focus of our attention. The work itself invites us to look elsewhere. Indeed, its subject goes beyond your first impressions.

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Board of Bills / 2016

Mirror-polished aluminium structure and neons
(300 x 190 x 5cm)

Text by JS
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography hv-studio

In the United States of America and Mexico, the omnipresence of huge advertising billboards, in city centres and along deserted highways, bears witness to a desire to privatise fragments of public spaces in order to carry a message – whether commercial, political or religious. In contrast to these billboards, Jonathan Sullam’s Board of Bills’ collection widens the landscape rather than amputating it. Every component part of the structure, including even the screws used to mount it, is polished like a mirror. The billboard reflects its environment as well as merging with it, but also frames it. The structure itself invites us to look beyond the work. It is reminiscent of the frame used in renaissance painting, allowing one to divide space in order to better replicate its proportions.

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i killed my mom /
2015

Black metal structure and neons
(300 x 140 x 240 cm)


Text by Barbara Geraci
Translated by R. Sullam
Photography hv-studio

The neon “I killed my mom” is unreadable at first glance. At the back of the neon’s structure are a set of intermingled electric cables, conveying a sort of abandoned no man’s land. The message on the front is properly grasped once the words are read in the nearby window reflection. This puzzling presentation suggests a confession that cannot be restrained. The impulsive, brutal and direct statement is in total contradiction with the rounded, old-fashioned and genteel typeface used for the phrase. The sentence alludes to the Oedipus myth, though substituting the parent, while the visual reversal of the phrase reinforces this substitution.

Courtesy Maison des Arts de Schaerbeek

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i killed my mom /
2015

Black metal structure and neons
(300 x 140 x 240 cm)

Text by Barbara Geraci
Translated by R. Sullam
Photography Mikael Falke

The neon “I killed my mom” is unreadable at first glance. At the back of the neon’s structure are a set of intermingled electric cables, conveying a sort of abandoned no man’s land. The message on the front is properly grasped once the words are read in the nearby window reflection. This puzzling presentation suggests a confession that cannot be restrained. The impulsive, brutal and direct statement is in total contradiction with the rounded, old-fashioned and genteel typeface used for the phrase. The sentence alludes to the Oedipus myth, though substituting the parent, while the visual reversal of the phrase reinforces this substitution.

Courtesy Maison des Arts de Schaerbeek

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Cloud /
2011

Metal frame & cotton wool
(600 x 200 x 200 cm)


Text by Sarah Lanos
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography Mobile Institute

Cloud, created in 2011 and exhibited in China, in several of Chongqing’s urban landscapes, is a perfect illustration of Jonathan Sullam’s work. A cloud of raw cotton, 3 meters in diameter, is suspended over a person by a crane. In the distance is the city’s skyline, a line that delineates the city’s contours in terms of its history, its people’s stories and their fantasies. The cloud becomes the symbol of a certain projection from one world to another. Frontiers remain terrestrial, whilst thoughts drift beyond the established framework of time and space.
Through the locations he chooses for his installations, Jonathan Sullam assumes not only his own inspirations and artistic references, but also his deep attachment to the spaces he encounters. Alighting in these peripheral zones, he emphasizes their complex - and sometimes even contradictory - personalities, which only a real form of empathy with them permits recognition. In reality, the evocative power of these territories in mutation lies in the sentiments they summon, feelings that lie between poetry and nostalgia, even a certain cynicism. Jonathan Sullam’s locations are building sites, waste lands, river banks. In transition or devoid of function, they appear abandoned for these reasons, the same that also offer a hope of liberty that is still possible, a moment of lightness. The cloud floats, full of ideas and dreams, yet at the same time, it feels heavy, dense, full of a reality that could perhaps be darker, desolate. In the image of the location where the Cloud has been installed, where ultimately only the projection of its potential will bestow on it an infinitely softer light.

Courtesy Mobile Institute

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Cloud /
2011

Metal frame & cotton wool
(600 x 200 x 200 cm)

Text by Sarah Lanos
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography Mobile Institute

Cloud, created in 2011 and exhibited in China, in several of Chongqing’s urban landscapes, is a perfect illustration of Jonathan Sullam’s work. A cloud of raw cotton, 3 meters in diameter, is suspended over a person by a crane. In the distance is the city’s skyline, a line that delineates the city’s contours in terms of its history, its people’s stories and their fantasies. The cloud becomes the symbol of a certain projection from one world to another. Frontiers remain terrestrial, whilst thoughts drift beyond the established framework of time and space.
Through the locations he chooses for his installations, Jonathan Sullam assumes not only his own inspirations and artistic references, but also his deep attachment to the spaces he encounters. Alighting in these peripheral zones, he emphasizes their complex - and sometimes even contradictory - personalities, which only a real form of empathy with them permits recognition. In reality, the evocative power of these territories in mutation lies in the sentiments they summon, feelings that lie between poetry and nostalgia, even a certain cynicism. Jonathan Sullam’s locations are building sites, waste lands, river banks. In transition or devoid of function, they appear abandoned for these reasons, the same that also offer a hope of liberty that is still possible, a moment of lightness. The cloud floats, full of ideas and dreams, yet at the same time, it feels heavy, dense, full of a reality that could perhaps be darker, desolate. In the image of the location where the Cloud has been installed, where ultimately only the projection of its potential will bestow on it an infinitely softer light.

Courtesy Mobile Institute

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David /
2014

Neons and metal structure
(200 x 200 x 35 cm)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography x

In this installation, David, represented by the King of Spades, has a dual personality: he is both the conqueror and the conquered in his combat against Goliath. Every individual sees in him someone affronting Good and Evil, but here luck too – evoked by the game of cards or the tarots – which can favour one or the other outcome. David is chosen to wear the hero’s mantle and must therefore turn his back on a more carefree life, but does this actually represent a renunciation? Using fluorescent tubes is an echo of this dichotomy: according to whether the lights are switched on or turned off, the work is one thing or another.

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David /
2014

Neons and metal structure
(200 x 200 x 35 cm)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography x

In this installation, David, represented by the King of Spades, has a dual personality: he is both the conqueror and the conquered in his combat against Goliath. Every individual sees in him someone affronting Good and Evil, but here luck too – evoked by the game of cards or the tarots – which can favour one or the other outcome. David is chosen to wear the hero’s mantle and must therefore turn his back on a more carefree life, but does this actually represent a renunciation? Using fluorescent tubes is an echo of this dichotomy: according to whether the lights are switched on or turned off, the work is one thing or another.

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anonymous
skin /
2013

Neons and metal structure
(200 x 200 x 35 cm)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography x

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anonymous
skin /
2013

Neons and metal structure
(200 x 200 x 35 cm)


Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography x

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shred my BEING /
2009

50 blades, metal structure, 20m of printed roll
(180 x 300 cm)


Text by JS
Photography x

Shred my being is the cynical experience of an artwork destroying itself. As each word is ripped apart, the remaining ones bear a heavier meaning. The machine carries out its shredding process for 1 second every 3 minutes and is then left on standby, suspending in time the tension of its destructive purpose.

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Shred my BEING /
2009

50 blades, metal structure, 20m of printed roll
(180 x 300 cm)

Text by JS
Photography x

Shred my being is the cynical experience of an artwork destroying itself. As each word is ripped apart, the remaining ones bear a heavier meaning. The machine carries out its shredding process for 1 second every 3 minutes and is then left on standby, suspending in time the tension of its destructive purpose.

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SHE GIVES LIFE WE DRAIN IT /
2015

Light box print (80 x 70cm) or framed print (190 x 150 cm)
(50 x 60 x 150 cm)


Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography Mikael Falke

A petrol pump sculpted in industrial wax, itself a derivative of oil. The content becomes the container. Black gold is bleached and becomes rigid. The work appears to be an archaeological artefact, evoking a long-gone civilization that had raised fossil fuels to become divinities, only to subsequently suffer the wrath of their destruction. Our view of the past is often falsified by erroneous interpretations, more or less conscious, of our cultural remains: Gothic churches as well as Greek temples were once multicoloured. When the colours have disappeared, the forms remain. How will future archaeologists interpret the angles – sometimes sharp, sometimes rounded – of petrol-driven cars and the petrol pumps that enabled them to function?

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She Gives Life, We Drain it / 2015

Wax and marble powder
(50 x 60 x 150 cm)

Text by Pierre-Yves Desaive
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography Mikael Falke

A petrol pump sculpted in industrial wax, itself a derivative of oil. The content becomes the container. Black gold is bleached and becomes rigid. The work appears to be an archaeological artefact, evoking a long-gone civilization that had raised fossil fuels to become divinities, only to subsequently suffer the wrath of their destruction. Our view of the past is often falsified by erroneous interpretations, more or less conscious, of our cultural remains: Gothic churches as well as Greek temples were once multicoloured. When the colours have disappeared, the forms remain. How will future archaeologists interpret the angles – sometimes sharp, sometimes rounded – of petrol-driven cars and the petrol pumps that enabled them to function?

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unchain my heart / 2012

Welded chains and gold paint
(220 x160 x 80 cm)


Text by JS
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography x

The eternal phrase “I’m Gonna Love You Forever”, emerges as if floating in space from a partially raised shackle heap. Love, one of life’s foremost themes, like in the theatre, is ironically dramatized: Is it about an eternal, chained-up love, or about love links? A promise of love, or a prison? Whether a chain link or a gem, a subtle gift or a mass-produced industrial object, this disproportionate knot of chains can be understood through its entire “links”, offering a real polysemous reading. This installation can, for example, be globally understood as a tantalizing desire, a sustainable truth, or a resistant weakness. No longer concerned with the word, but more with the commercial action “which incites the buyer to act”. “Unchain my heart” sells its product, the image of love being frozen in space on a cynical note, like a suspended, stray pictorial gesture.

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unchain my heart / 2012

Welded chains and gold paint
(220 x160 x 80 cm)

Text by JS
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography x

The eternal phrase “I’m Gonna Love You Forever”, emerges as if floating in space from a partially raised shackle heap. Love, one of life’s foremost themes, like in the theatre, is ironically dramatized: Is it about an eternal, chained-up love, or about love links? A promise of love, or a prison? Whether a chain link or a gem, a subtle gift or a mass-produced industrial object, this disproportionate knot of chains can be understood through its entire “links”, offering a real polysemous reading. This installation can, for example, be globally understood as a tantalizing desire, a sustainable truth, or a resistant weakness. No longer concerned with the word, but more with the commercial action “which incites the buyer to act”. “Unchain my heart” sells its product, the image of love being frozen in space on a cynical note, like a suspended, stray pictorial gesture.

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Democracy unrealized /
2015

Welded golden metal chains
(220 x 160 x 100 cm)


Text by Barbara Geraci
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography Mikael Falke

The art piece Democracy unrealized makes a qualifying statement on democracy claiming it has not turned out as it could have. Contrary to the essence of democracy and its intention, it has become trapped and leashed itself. Golden metal chains convey weightiness, the statement takes the form of a suspended object using old-fashioned lettering. Is this installation a statement, an anarchist slogan or, on a different level, an ornament or a gem put on display? The self-interrogation is now in the onlooker’s court.

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Democracy unrealized
/ 2015

Welded golden metal chains
(220 x 160 x 100 cm)

Text by Barbara Geraci
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography Mikael Falke

The art piece Democracy unrealized makes a qualifying statement on democracy claiming it has not turned out as it could have. Contrary to the essence of democracy and its intention, it has become trapped and leashed itself. Golden metal chains convey weightiness, the statement takes the form of a suspended object using old-fashioned lettering. Is this installation a statement, an anarchist slogan or, on a different level, an ornament or a gem put on display? The self-interrogation is now in the onlooker’s court.

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zero point one /
2007

8 Laser machines, 4 smoke machines
(840 x 420 x 200 cm)


Text by JS
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography Mobile Institute

Taking into account the means of diffusion and the surrounding architecture, the project is adapted to the specific realities of public space. Mobile Institute and I acted upon these interventions as a research and production lab. The 0,1 laser platform is understood as a measure of space. The integration in space is total as it responds to it with an audacious invasion. The public is set beneath the green coat of a clouded ceiling, reckoning the green space that surrounds every individual. This installation was part of Brussels White Night festival in 2007.

Courtesy Mobile Institute

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zero point one /
2007

8 Laser machines, 4 smoke machines
(840 x 420 x 200 cm)

Text by JS
Translated by Liz Harrison
Photography Mobile Institute

Taking into account the means of diffusion and the surrounding architecture, the project is adapted to the specific realities of public space. Mobile Institute and I acted upon these interventions as a research and production lab. The 0,1 laser platform is understood as a measure of space. The integration in space is total as it responds to it with an audacious invasion. The public is set beneath the green coat of a clouded ceiling, reckoning the green space that surrounds every individual. This installation was part of Brussels White Night festival in 2007.

Courtesy Mobile Institute

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+

works

Jonathan Sullam’s protean work is characterized by a poetic fusion of territory and the stories that have marked a given space. A coalescence into which he merges his own mythology and from which new fields of experimentation are then born; reflections from an accumulation of material and immaterial strata. He explores the image, the material or the memory that best corresponds to his own ever-moving emotions. Where a different gesture is required, he learns a new technique. And so emerges a profoundly sensitive work of art. A frozen crystallization of time and space.

Jonathan Sullam
Jonathan Sullam
Jonathan Sullam
Jonathan Sullam
Jonathan Sullam - 2018_Talking_loud_saying_nothing
Jonathan Sullam - 2021_A_touch_of_silence_03
Jonathan Sullam
Jonathan Sullam
Jonathan Sullam
Jonathan Sullam
Jonathan Sullam
Jonathan Sullam