10 may 2021, Manuela Klerkx
Les Monseigneurs | Moths in jaquard
Les Monseigneurs is the nom de plume of Thomas Renwart (1995), a young artist who seems to have walked straight out of a 19th century French novel by the likes Huysmans or Baudelaire. Not because of the disdain for 'rascals and the weak-headed' or the melancholy both writers are typically associated with, but because of the high degree of refinement, the longing for beauty and love and the overall 'fin de siècle' feeling that his work exudes. Whereas in Huysmans’s and Baudelaire’s work the dark side of man and the associated 'suffering from life' prevail, Thomas’s work favours emotions such as longing, wonder, intimacy and eroticism shaped in unique, woven 'paintings' consisting of psychedelic patterns of flowers and butterflies, texts and symbolic references as in the following titles: 'Caméléon', 'Gilding the Lily', 'Partir dans la nuit' ('Leaving in the night'), 'C'est dans la tête que tout s'efface'('It is in the head where everything is erased ') refer to the more hidden - often erotic - symbolism present in the carpets. And to think that everything he makes stems on the one hand from his secluded life in a 17th-century Ghent Begijnhof monastery cell, which boasts a garden he has designed and an ever-expanding herbarium, and on the other hand has everything to do with nightlife and the associated ideal of freedom.
Les Monseigneurs, Relève-toi faut pas déconner, 2021, BruthausGallery.
After graduating in 2019 from the LUCA School of Arts in Ghent in the field of textile design, Thomas has been in one exhibition after the other. And that he has been successful at it is evident from the two Henry Van de Velde Awards that he recently won. Craft plays a vital role in Thomas' work. It is not without reason that he won the Awards in the crafts category, together with Atelier Verilin, the Belgian weaving mill specializing in jacquard weaving where developed a series of unique linen tapestries. In addition to the love for arts & crafts and the loom, literature has also been a permanent source of inspiration since childhood:
Literature is extremely important to me. As a child, my mother gave me Proust and Baudelaire to read. Baudelaire's collection of poems "Les fleurs du mal" certainly had a lasting impression on me, laughs Renwart, who is perfectly bilingual. "I always read and write in French. That language is richer and more layered. It is exactly that ambiguity that I am looking for in my work. Take, for example, the relationship between "songe" and "mensonge", which in Dutch does not exist as such between the words "dream" and "lie". (Iris de Feijter, detijd.b)
Les Monseigneurs, 'Gilding The Lily', 2020, BruthausGallery.
Thomas' textile art is a perfect blend of manual and digital techniques: while Verilin weaves his carpets by computer and with photographic precision, Thomas weaves and embroiders them by hand. In the meantime he has also learned to make quilts which he uses as a canvas for his woven paintings.
Art is a craft that you can learn, like a baker or a butcher. You can make a pleasing product with your hands and a few ingredients. I use paint, yarn and looms, while a baker uses water, flour and an oven. It is essentially the same: you make something that you want to share. (Iris de Feijter, detijd.b)
Besides the importance of the right balance between ideas, knowledge and craftsmanship, Thomas' art is just as important. Just as the rat in street art symbolizes the underdog, the outcasts; for example, the moth symbolizes freedom for Thomas. The difference between the butterfly and the moth is exactly what Thomas reveals in his art: just as the butterfly is associated with freedom, tenderness and fleetingness, and is embraced and cherished for its beauty; for example, the moth stands for someone who is active at night. And that has a negative connotation in advance because it is at odds with the life of a successful citizen with his 9-to-5 job. And so the elusive moth is a threat to civilian morale. Not for Thomas though, because this wonderful creature stands for freedom in the absolute sense of the word: namely for a life in harmony with nature and with itself. Something Thomas dreams of – both at night and during the day.
Les Monseigneurs, L'univers ne s'arrète pas, 2021 , BruthausGallery.
