Publication
on my work
While I work in my painting studio in Laeken, I know some nice surprises. Among them, the publication of an article on my work represents the joy of knowing a new point of view. Here is an overview of various articles that appeared in the press and which are devoted to me. Other press clippings show my love of the painting.
Mars 2020 - Bruxelles Culture - Bruxelles Diffusion asbl
2015 - Les Editions d'Art AEG - Recueil 1 2012 - Collection 'États d’Âmes d'Artistes' - Article de François Speranza - p27 à p30.
Juillet/août 2015 - La Revue Générale, à l'occasion de ses 150 ans ! - Billet d'Art de Julie River 7/8 2015
Novembre 2013 - Magazine L'Evénement - "Des pierres habitées" - p13
Octobre 2012 - Arts et Lettres - "Bernadette Reginster: de l'émotion à la vitesse"
Septembre 2012 - Magazine l'Evénement - 'Artiste plurielle à l'Espace Art Gallery'
Février 2012 - Magazine 'Maison et Jardin actuels' - Portraits d'Artistes - "Ici, l’œuvre affleure l'âme des choses"
2012-2013 - La Bible de l'Art Abstrait - Editions Le Livre d'Art
Novembre 2011 - Magazine l'Evénement - "La mémoire des villes" - p 24
Juin 2010 - La Tribune de Bruxelles - N° 364 - Du 15 au 21 juin 2010
Avril 2010 - Magazine L'Evénement : Complicités artistiques au Centre Culturel d'Uccle
2009-2010 - La Bible de l'Art Abstrait - Editions Le Livre d'Art - page 87
Novembre 2009 - La Tribune de Bruxelles
Décembre 2008 - Union et Action - N° 46 - Actualités: Une artiste peintre portera les couleurs belges à Canton "Bernadette Reginster, China girl"
THE GENERAL REVIEW REVUE - July/August 2015 on the occasion of its 150 years!
Ticket of Art from Julie River 7/8 2015
Bernadette Reginster was born in the Congo. She lived there for the first fifteen years. In Brussels, where she resides, she obtained her diploma as an interior designer at the High School CAD. Artist in her soul, it is in Africa, a continent of great contrasts and infinite spaces, all witnesses of the ancestral memory, that she feels the need for lines and colours to awaken in her. It begins with some shyness by drawings in ink and then launch into typically figurative watercolours. The flows of the water painting are then mingled as emanating from the meanders of a river whose only source will remain immutable in any other form of creative expression, in any other technique initiated.
In the late '90s, she discovered a true passion for non-figurative and, very quickly, for pure abstraction. His gaze is astonished, his inner self is freed, his horizon moves away as his being authorizes the most unpredictable representations of reality to subject it to a metamorphosis. In brilliant colours, the mass is mastered, the balance is certain, the harmony is present.
To acquire an image, to digest it mentally until it is reborn so new, so unexpected, upset and overwhelming, so becomes the approach of Bernadette Reginster. The artist then explodes all the elements to make a new world reappear. Her world. Inside, radiating with elegance, like the woman herself. We can speak here of "FRAGMENTALISM", integrating itself in a general trend that seems to me more than obvious. Yes, art, just like the world, is oriented towards this movement.
When, on September 11, the Twin Towers collapse, and with them the entire soul of the mythical city, Bernadette Reginster is more than interpreted. So much so that she begin a genuine historical research on New York, drawing on photos and articles from the past. This emblematic city of the US then becomes the pillar around which the forces of its imagination will never cease to twirl like a satellite around a planet. To move, to guide her art.
Would two towers that collapse at once, yet so united, so complicit, have revived in the depths of this artist the source of a personal suffering? Perhaps. . . We know well that indelible marks which become obsessive, make emerge from the most secret enclosures the most audacious art.
Bernadette, who defined herself as a plural artist, painted and sculpted: the first emotion is always the basic element. The choice of subject, shooting, lighting. . . are all subjects which allow systematic destruction for a pictorial recomposition. . She says.
With her many canvases on New York, Brussels, lands and plants, as well as her small porcelain, Bernadette is an assiduous artist fairs in Belgium and abroad. It is in his house, located in a corner of countryside in town, where his workshop is. A stone's throw from the Japanese Tower, the "Reverdie" is its name, waiting for you. Talk to all your friends tourists as this is also a guest house. Charm guaranteed!
Julie River (Art Chronicler for the General Review) Free translation
ARTS ET LETTERS - October 2012 - Bernadette Reginster: From Emotion to Speed
Published by François Speranza on 1 Octobre,1 2012 à 2:30 pm on 'Arts and Letters'
Du 26-09 au 14-10-12 se tient à l’ESPACE ART GALLERY (Rue Lesbroussart, 35, 1050, Bruxelles) une exposition intitulée BERNADETTE REGINSTER, ARTISTE PLURIELLE qui ne manquera nullement de vous séduire.
From September, 26 to October, 14 2012, an exhibition entitled BERNADETTE REGINSTER, PLURAL ARTIST, will not fail to seduce you at the ESPACE ART GALLERY (Rue Lesbroussart, 35, 1050, Brussels).
Plural, she certainly is and when asked in what style she feels most comfortable, the artist highlights the major characteristic that animates, according to her sayings, the sign of Gemini: the eagerness , downright vital, to do everything fast and well! Indeed, any spring at the skin of Madame BERNADETTE REGINSTER. This is perceptible both in his paintings based on the technique of collage and his works in mixed technique.
This is also reflected in the emergence expressed in the resurgence of this "phantom image" depicted in most of his paintings centred on New York views, namely the shadow of the Twin Towers. The artist makes them, in a way, sprout from Ground Zero, to make them revive on the canvas.
September 11, 2001 remains a key date in the life of the artist. She had long wanted to go to New York to see the World Trade Center in Manhattan. Unfortunately, Bin Laden interposed between her and her dream ... And since then, BERNADETTE REGINSTER has not ceased to resurrect it, not as a tangible reality but in the state of vaporous silhouettes, existing by their presence while erasing in a distant improbable that restores the canvas, fertile ground of our memory.
The artist never systematizes. Everything is in emotion. His collages testify the best.BOWERY (2010 - 100 x 100 cm - mixed technique) combines past and present in the same setting. The past is symbolized by old torpedoes of the '30s that recall the atmosphere, both glaucous and bewitching, of black films. The present, it is concretized by streaks acting as tears. For the artist, New York is a torn city that keeps a gaping wound. BERNADETTE REGINSTER maintains a particular dialectic with the subjects of his paintings.
She cannot help moving them by swapping them in canvas. It also happens that it takes them inside a same work, like TIMES SQUARE (2010 - 100 x 100 cm - mixed technique) in which the live axis of the city is repeated several times in different angles. This desire to "revive" New York also testifies to an archeologic work on collective memory. Indeed, during a previous exhibition held in this city, the artist raised the curiosity of some New Yorkers who were unaware until certain photographs had existed, some of which were ancient - some of them date back to the end of the 19th century! The artist uses documents that go from 1890 to 1930. What give to the collective memory matter for reflection!
BERNADETTE REGINSTER is a versatile artist who is also in the delicacy of the line. This can be seen in his small inks entitled OPUS (1998 - 24 x 30 cm), highlighting his great graphic design skills in the extreme sharpness of the resulting black and white rendering, as well as in the clever mix of red and black, thus obtaining a just chromatic balance.
The artist is also a sculptor. From pipes of irrigation she conceived filiform silhouettes encamped in pairs entwined. And when asked whether she was influenced by ALBERTO GIACOMETTI, the artist whom the question seems to surprise confesses that she had never thought of it, even if she adored the work of Swiss sculptor. Pupil at the Academy of Woluwe St. Pierre, she continued her training in sculpture. The group of works exhibited presents a study of variations on movement. Each sculpture is "frozen" in a twist, presented as a "moment" defining the attitude of the characters. The titles that accompany them are extremely evocative: REGARDS, ENLACEMENT, INTIMITY… they are, in a way, reminiscences dating back to the adolescence of the artist, when she was studying classical dance.
From a USB key, BERNADETTE REGINSTER selects photos (especially those used for the TWIN TOWERS, in New York), and works on large format. Always pushed by her eagerness to reach the speed of light, she favors acrylic because it dries very quickly at the expense of oil, too slow to fix. The visitor finds it easily in BRUME (2012 - 80 x 80 cm - acrylic). This work presents essentially two zones (a red and a white one) colliding, creating a chromatic conflagration, at the origin of an incandescent mist. Technique and rendering coincide because the emotion that this work releases can be created only by instantaneous fusion.
BERNADETTE REGINSTER, who attended the Ateliers Malou, in addition to having studied interior design at the CAD Brussels (Private College for Advertising and Design in Brussels), who greatly contributed to mastering the drawing as well as the put in colours, is certainly a great artist. A creator, who, through her works, is constantly looking for the bend of an emotion, conveyed by the need for speed.
François L. Speranza - Arts and Humanities
Notice of the Nobel - The Online Dictionary of Artists of Belgium 2010
Painter. Graduate of the CAD in Brussels in Interior Design. Frequent the Ateliers Malou in Brussels and the Atelier Charlotte Vindevoghel. Continuing her training at the Woluwe-Saint-Pierre Sculpture Academy. She first meets the watercolour by creating landscapes tender and realistic. The artist then moves towards abstraction, using acrylic, ink and photography. His works are loaded with intensity of colours: influence of the years spent in Africa and his travels in Asia. The first step in the work of Bernadette Reginster is the photograph of an object, a landscape, a person. This photo is then purified in its simple forms. Then begins the work of the painter or the graphic designer, work of deconstruction and reconstruction, which transforms this first element into a work of art.
The artist: "The choice of the subject, shootings and lightings are all subjects allowing a systematic destruction with a view to a pictorial or photographic re-composition where the subject takes on a new dimension. It is therefore a question of forgetting the first moment to return to the essential of the image by a work of purification. Then, through reconstruction, choice of colours and material, I end up with a new painting where photography gives way to an original creation. "Press:" For ten years, the artist has taken the step of abstraction without renouncing the pleasures of distant lands. His painting has gained in interiority, opening in ink and acrylic, in compositions more in matter where the soul of things is exposed. A soul that finds in colours an accomplice to its measure. "(D.P., 2010)
Expos. ind. : Brussels, José Sotto Gallery, 2005 - Paris / France, Little Van Gogh, 2007 - Knokke, 826 ArtGallery, 2010. Coll. Expos.: Brussels, FuturArt, 2005 - Brussels, Garden Gallery, 2009 - Brussels, United Artists Fair, 2009. Private collections: USA - Netherlands - France - Belgium. Active in Brussels
Juin 2010 - The Tribune of Brussels - N° 364 - From June, 15 to 21 juin 2010
From time to time, you can take a walk in galleries with amazing exhibits. This time, the gallery Espace Brugmann has delivered its walls to Bernadette Reginster. His exhibition "New York, New York" is downright amazing. His work is mostly made from old photographs of the capital from the years 1890 to 1930. The artist reworks them on computer in the colours and reproduces on alu dibond and plexi.
Some fifty wooden canvases or caissons are exposed.Half of the works are of an average format of 100 x 100 cm, some larger, others smaller and some decline the same photo in several tones...It is strange and beautiful, inviting the past to be reborn through totally contemporary techniques.
Until 12/08. Espace Brugmann Gallery, place Brugmann, 8 - 1050 Ixelles. Opening during the week from 10 am to 5 pm. Saturday from 2 to 6 pm.
Avril 2010 - The Event: Artistic Complicities at the Cultural Center of Uccle
She, Bernadette Reginster, is a painter. He, Eric Maquet, is a glass blower. Both, born in Africa, have in common the passion of architecture and an unwavering attachment to colour
Bernadette Reginster, coming from the watercolour, draws from the travels the essence of his inspiration. Encounters, landscapes, impressions and scenery constitute the backdrop of his paintings. For ten years, the artist has taken the step of abstraction without renouncing the pleasures of distant lands. His painting has gained in interiority, opening in ink and acrylic, in compositions more in matter where the soul of things is exposed. A soul that finds in colour an accomplice to its measure. Exploring other techniques such as the glaze, computerized images and printed under plexi or collage, Bernadette Reginster surveys the Asian continent and prepares an exhibition devoted to York. I D.P. At the Uccle Cultural Center from 23 April to 2 May. Rue Rouge 47, 1180 Brussels.
www.bernadettereginster.be
2009 The Abstract Art Bible - Tome II
Le Livre d'Art - p.87
Novembre 2008 - Union and Action - WEEKLY • N° 46 • Decembre 5, 2008
NEWS: A Belgian painter will wear the Belgian colors in Canton Une artiste peintre portera les couleurs belges à Canton
"Bernadette Reginster, China girl"
In December, this Brussels designer will exhibit her paintings in a major art fair in China. Narrative of an original artistic adventure.
I have always painted. I always had a brush or pencil in my hands, the first of the class in drawing, "says Bernadette Reginster painter, specialist in acrylic, glaze technique and collages (see his background). Today, she is going to conquer China. Art is the expression of a creativity, it is a mechanism of thought and imagination, a subjective representation of the world ...
In fact, there are so many definitions of art that each artist must possess one of his own. One thing is certain, these creators are true independents, just like their cousins the craftsmen. It is a difficult job, which deserves a spotlight or even a brush stroke. "There are not many artists who come to live from their painting in Belgium," said Bernadette Reginster, Brussels-based designer with multiple talents.
An economist by training, she is also an interior designer and manager of a guest house near the Heysel Exhibition Center (La Reverdie, avenue de la Bugrane 124 A, 1020 Brussels). But now she is concentrating on her painting, as she sets off on the adventure, on the assault of the Middle Empire. She is indeed the only Belgian who will exhibit her works at the Thirteenth Canton International Art Fair. This is an important event, attracting over 300 exhibitors and 40,000 interested visitors.
This long journey is definitely worth the effort of being an artist from our country in search of openness to the world. China is certainly in full economic boom. There is no question of recession. And the upper classes are always eager for discoveries. European art is highly prized.
Pour les esthètes
But why Bernadette Reginster and not another painter perhaps better known? Because the Brussels designer was selected by a Parisian company, Art Event. The latter felt that his works deserved the journey. Art Event knows what she is talking about, having organized some twenty modern and contemporary art fairs in Beijing, Shanghai, Canton and Hong Kong. Last year, the 20 European exhibitors who worked with the firm at the Canton International Fair had some € 480,000 in sales. Because art does not forget it, it is also a market that aesthetes and ... investors make live.
There is also talk of investment for Bernadette Reginster. "As soon as my file was approved by the Chinese authorities, panic began," she said with a smile in her voice, for before selling a work there, "you have to transport the canvases in adapted boxes. You also have to pay for your accommodation, the rental of the booth and the Chinese interpreter that is assigned to me. "Although art is a universal language, the ideal is of course to convey messages in the local language.
This game of export, this risk, is certainly worth the candle. It is a way for the notoriety of Bernadette Reginster to go beyond our borders ... And come back to us by a joyous boomerang effect. Thus, on his return to the country, the painter hopes to participate more in the beautiful hours of renowned Brussels galleries.
An artist, a journey
Bernadette Reginster was born or Congo. She lived there for the first 15 years. She has kept from this experience a love for raw art, the colours and the light of Africa. The artist currently travels a lot in Asia. After many ink or acrylic works, always on paper, she finally opted for the new support that is the canvas, although some work was done on board or cardboard. Over the past ten years, she has turned towards abstraction. She uses the material and the technique of the glacis which gives depth to the works. More recently, she has incorporated collages in her works, including historical monuments heightened by paintings. She attended artists' studios and particularly the Ateliers Malou in Brussels. It was Charlotte Vindevoghel who allowed her to slow down the movement.
Bernadette Reginster also likes to go to the Bay of Somme. in Saint-Benoit sur Loire and in the Ardennes, to paint in situ and to take inspiration from the sea, fields and nature. During her travels, she makes photo reports, an exquisite food for the memory. While the source of the artist's inspiration has remained constant, his legible character has evidently become blurred, leaving now more carte blanche to the questioning of painting, which aims at this secret and feverish genesis of things in the body. Some works already in private collections in the United States, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Rodolphe Masuy
August 2008 The neighborhood in the spotlight 06/08/2005 3:48 p.m.
Bettina Hubo © Brussels this week
Anyone who wants to experience what Laeken has to offer culturally and artistically should definitely take advantage of the opportunities that Laeken, my secret tip, offers on June 11 and 12. Around forty activities are on the program during this discovery weekend.
You can already take a look at the Jardins du Fleuriste, the new park on Sobieski which will only officially open its doors on June 17. This four-hectare site was previously part of a vast estate that Leopold II had intended for horticulture. The Brussels Environment Institute (Bim), which currently manages the site, has decided to restore the park to its former vocation and install a Garden Arts Center there. This center will focus on the study of garden culture.
Snapshots, yips and churches
During the weekend, not only will several primary schools in Laeken and the library open their doors, but also the police dog school on Dikkelindelaan. Visitors can watch police dogs being trained and see the kennel up close. At the photography school on Claessenstraat, visitors can have their photo taken and leave fifteen minutes later with their portrait in A4 format.
The “architecture and heritage” component includes a crossbow shooting demonstration by the archers’ guild Le Grand Serment Royal et de Saint-Georges des Arbalétriers de Bruxelles. Furthermore, the company responsible for the renovation of the Notre-Dame church explains the progress of the restoration of this neo-Gothic church. It is also possible to visit the workshop of stonemason Ernest Salu, located next to the church.
Exotic
Of course, there are also activities in the Chinese Pavilion and the Japanese Tower. These buildings, commissioned by Leopold II, are part of the “exotic” heritage of Brussels and house a vast collection of Chinese porcelain and Japanese objects. During the discovery weekend, performances by students from Dutch-speaking and French-speaking music conservatories will take place in these buildings.
Those interested in medical heritage can visit the Brugmann University Hospital - a design by Victor Horta - or the Queen Elisabeth Medical Foundation, a building adjoining the hospital which was built in the Art Deco style by architect Henry Lacoste between 1927 and 1933.
Furthermore, many contemporary artists from Laeken open their workshops on weekends. Among them are the painters Bernadette Reginster-de Vroede, Xavier Carion, Yves Sempoux, Jean-Paul De Wandeleer, Pauline Matthys and Frank Timmermans as well as the writer Evelyne Wilwerth.
:: Laeken, my secret tip. Saturday and Sunday June 11 and 12.
Contacte me
Want to know more about my art or my practice? Simply contact me via the form or by phone. I would be happy to hear from you and answer your questions. You can also share your feelings about an artistic work in the guestbook. I live and work in Laeken, in the north of Brussels.