JEREMY DEMESTER


JEREMY DEMESTER

As a descendant of the wandering ancestry of the Romani community, Jeremy Demester (b. 1988, Digne) draws from a wide variety of cultures and traditions within his oeuvre. It is an inherited wanderlust that first drew the artist to Benin in 2015, where he was invited for a residency at the Zinsou Foundation in Ouidah. Here, Demester discovered an alternate way of connecting to the world, through the power of magic, rituals and dance inspired by a keen observance and insightful knowledge of the country’s nature and ancient rites. Today, the artist lives and works between Benin and the South of France.

Demester’s recent works gather and convey the visions of an artist who gives a central place to intuition, which is a driving force in his practice. ‘Painting is a body in which thought and unknown desires are embodied,’ he explains. Drawing on the rich folklore, oral history, mystics and mythology of Benin culture, Demester explores the imaginative forces that bind Vodun societies and travelling peoples in his vibrant paintings, esoteric sculptures and intricate works on paper. Frequently executed in vivid layers of paint – at times free-flowing and gestural, at others meticulously rendered – his work speaks to the dreamy, expressive landscapes of the spiritual world.

Image: FTW #1, 2018, oil on canvas, 300.5 x 201 x 3.5 cm.; 118 1/8 x 78 3/4  x 1 3/8 in. Photo: Charles Duprat

Artist Talk

Solo Exhibitions


Group Exhibitions


Selected Institutional Exhibitions


Biography


VITA

1988

Born in Digne, France


2014

Graduated École des Beaux-Arts, Paris


Lives and works between the south of France and Ouidah, Benin

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Fondation Zinsou, Ouidah

Istanbul Modern, Istanbul

Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain Saint-Étienne Métropole, Saint-Étienne

Rennie Museum, Vancouver

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024

Times of Grace
Le LAB - Fondation Zinsou, Cotonou


2023

XXI
Perrotin, Dubai

Ram Muay
Galerie Max Hetzler, London


2022

Djemy
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin


2021

Gros-Câlin [Big hug]
Ouidah Museum - Fondation Zinsou, Ouidah


2020

OUIDAH
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin


2019

FTW
Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris


2018

Stiftung zur Förderung zeitgenössischer Kunst in Weidingen, Eifel

Château Malromé, Saint André-du-Bois


2017

Mucciaccia Contemporary, Rome

Fire Walk With Me
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin (catalogue)


2016

33 engravings for Benji's revenge
Musée d'art moderne et contemporain de Saint-Étienne, Saint-Étienne (catalogue)

Palais de l'École des Beaux-Arts, Paris

Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris


2015

Original Zeke

Zinsou Foundation, Ouidah

Galerie Art & Essai - Université Rennes 2, Rennes

Abrakadabra

Immanence, Paris

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023

The Inner Island
Villa Carmignac, Porquerolles Island


2022

Aziza
Fondation Zinsou, Cotonou


2021

Travels with Herodotus: A Journey through African Cultures
Galleria Bianconi, Milan

Artistes à la Une Togeth'Her
Monnaie de Paris, Paris

Cosmogonies Zinsou: An African Collection 
MO.CO. Hôtel des Collections, Montpellier


2020

RESONANCES
Fondation Opale, Lens

Low lows to high highs
Window Project, Tbilisi

Made in France
Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris


2019

Par Hasard II
Friche de la Belle de Mai Marseille

Made in France
Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris

La Lumière des Mondes
Domaine des Etangs, Massignac

Les Enfants du Paradis
MUba Eugène Leroy, Tourcoing


2018

Chambres d’Amour - La Littorale #7 - Biennale Internationale d'Art Contemporain
Anglet - Côte Basque


2017

You know nothing Raymond (a homage by Jérémy Demester)
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin

Matière Grise
Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris


2016

Das Bild hängt schief

Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin


2015

Les Voyageurs
(catalogue)
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Paris


2014

Ciel d'Ether

Brownstone Foundation, Paris

Empora

École des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Paris

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

J.M. Gallais, Jeremy Demester, exh. cat., Paris: Galerie Max Hetzler, 2023 

A. Gugnon, Jeremy Demester: Fire Walk With Me, exh. cat., Berlin:  Galerie Max Hetzler, 2018

Fage éditions / Musée d'art moderne et contemporain de Saint-Étienne (Eds.): 33 engravings for Benji's revenge, Lyon 2016

Videos


Publications


Jeremy Demester

Galerie Max Hetzler Berlin | Paris | London / Holzwarth Publications, Berlin 2023
With text by Jean-Marie Gallais 

€ 40.00

Jeremy Demester: Djemy

Exhibition Poster
2022

€ 20.00

Jeremy Demester: OUIDAH

Exhibition Poster
2020
Edition of 100

€ 20.00

Jeremy Demester: Fire Walk With Me

Galerie Max Hetzler Berlin | Paris | London / Holzwarth Publications, Berlin 2018
With a text by Annabelle Gugnon and a booklet Raymond Hains: You Know Nothing Raymond

€ 45.00

Selected Press


Architectural Digest Magazine February 2019

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Kunstforum February 2018

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Berliner Zeitung 5 January 2018

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artpress October 2015

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