FÉLICIEN UMBREIT - Lot 43

FÉLICIEN UMBREIT Protective bouquet PRAF clay, 40% chamotte stoneware H: 45 x W: 25 x D: 35 cm "Born in Brussels, Belgian architect and ceramist. Graduated from the Faculty of Architecture La Cambre Horta (ULB) in 2013, I have worked as an architect in several Belgian offices, while conducting artistic projects at the intersection of space and matter. From 2010 to 2021, I collaborated with artist Marie-Françoise Plissart on the artistic renovation of the Parc metro station in Brussels. Alongside my architectural practice, I have developed a sculptural approach rooted in ceramics. Trained at the Académie des Beaux-Arts de Saint-Gilles between 2014 and 2019, then graduating from the Master Céramique de l'ENSAV La Cambre in 2021, I have deepened a plastic research centered on notions of transformation, fluidity and metamorphosis. This exploration continued during an artistic residency at Studio Garden Verrewinkel (2020), and was recognized by the award of the Prix de la Fondation Boghossian and the Prix de l'Éducation Wallonie-Bruxelles/Loterie Nationale in 2021. My work has been shown in several institutions and galleries, in Belgium and internationally. In 2024, I exhibited at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels (Fireflies), the François Schneider Foundation (Aqua Terra) and BeCraft (Mystique). I also took part in the Water exhibition at the Boghossian Foundation (2023-2024) and Creative Nature (BeCraft, curated by Jean Blanchart), as well as solo and group shows at Galerie Michel Rein, Maison des Arts de Schaerbeek, Galerie Détour and Parcours d'Artistes de Saint-Gilles. My practice lies at the crossroads of sculpture, architecture and the ceramic gesture, in a quest for balance between formal strength, the poetry of materials and a sensitive resonance with the living world. "