Joachim Lambrechts

Joachim Lambrechts (b. 1986) is a renowned urban artist from Antwerp, Belgium. In 2001, he began his studies at an art school in Antwerp. Later he became very involved with the graffiti and street art scene in his home city and in 2004 he distanced himself from his academic education and left art school without graduating. In the years that followed, Joachim spent a great deal of time experimenting with various approaches to graffiti and quickly became integrated into the Belgian street art scene. Since 2010, painting on canvas has been Joachim’s main focus, in addition to creating street art across Europe. In contrast to his murals, Joachim never makes preliminary studies or sketches when he starts working on a canvas. Paradoxically, he feels freer within the four walls of his studio which is reflected in his paintings, which are the result of a more spontaneous process, and as such, possess a sense of urgency and innocence.

Solo exhibitions include, (Upcoming) Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2023); Dark Days Need Bright Spells, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Berlin (2022); From Bad Bats to Fat Cat, Galeria Fran Reus, Palma De Mallorca (2022); Siluetas, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2021); Allegro, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Berlin (2021); On the Spur of the Moment, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2020); 223 DAYS, Verbeeck Van Dyck Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium (2019); BORN TO PAINT, Graffitistreet, London, UK (2018); TILL DEATH DO US ‘ART’, Huberty & Breyne Gallery, Brussels, Belgium (2017); WRITE & SQUEEZE, Art Gallery, Knokke, Belgium (2017); BIPOLAR, Brato Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium (2016); and KRANK, Aim Space Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium (2016).

Group exhibitions include Uprising, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Schloss Görne, Germany (2022); art Karlsruhe, Rheinstetten, Germany (2022); Duo show with Rune Christensen, Galerie Wolfsen, Denmark (2022); Facing the Sun, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Schloss Görne, Germany (2021); THIS IS NOT A ZOO, Permanent & travelling exhibition, Canary Islands, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain (2019); STREET MASTERS 2, Art Gallery, Knokke, Belgium (2018); UNDER BRIDGE GROUP SHOW, Styleconception, Innsbruck, Austria (2018); Included in the year exhibition of 19Karen Gallery, 19Karen Gallery, Gold Coast, Australia (2017); STREET MASTERS 1, Art Gallery, Knokke, Belgium (2017); MCA-DAY, MCA-Day, New York, America (2016); URBAN ET ORBI, Perry Kish Fine Art Gallery, Heerlen, The Netherlands (2016); UNDERGROUND GROUP SHOW 2, Graffitistreet, London, UK (2016); and UNDERGROUND GROUP SHOW 1, Graffitistreet, London,UK (2015). Collaborations include ‘’Heverlee Beer’’, Glasgow, Scotland, (2018); MOA_Masters Of Arts, Milan, Italy (2017); Hotel Bloom, Brussels, Belgium, (2017), Balls&Glory, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, (2016).

From Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe to cobras and lions, a dancing devil and a mermaid, Joachim Lambrechts’s latest exhibition at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery in Berlin draws on the artist’s personal experiences as well as a wide range of cultural and social references in a riotous celebration of the vibrancy and absurdity of everyday life. Titled after one of the works–on–paper in which a wizard conjures a rainbow as both a shelter and a source of light amid a stormy scene, Dark Days Need Bright Spells explores the idea of humour as a tool for healing and opening up new ways of seeing the world.

‘I think that humour is very important for helping put certain things into perspective,’ says Lambrechts. ‘As we all know, life can be brutally hard and at such times, laughter is crucial. It makes things bearable.’ This is very much tied to the artist’s approach to making art, which embraces play as means for unlocking creativity. He never plans his works, preferring to see what emerges through a spontaneous process, which sometimes involves working very quickly – each of the works-on-paper for this exhibition, for example, were created in a day. However, while the characters and text often appear rudimentary in form, the heavily worked surfaces reveal a more considered and effortful process as Lambrechts works over his initial marks to begin again.

Many of the works play on this idea of renewal through their compositions. One of the most captivating works in the exhibition depicts a lion walking away from a circus and towards the viewer. At a glance, it appears to be a straightforward, innocent image, pleasing for its bright colours and visual symmetry, but two lines of text at the top reveal a darker backstory. We learn the lion has left the circus – quit his job – because he ‘was not treated well, nor was he paid much.’ Reflecting on the work, Lambrechts notes that this resonates with his own history: ‘It is a reminder of the many negative experiences I’ve had in places I worked in the past, but sometimes the bad experiences are just as important as the good ones – they can motivate us to look beyond our current circumstances and to seek happiness elsewhere.’ In this light, the circus becomes a metaphor for the absurdity of the modern day working world which demands increasingly higher levels of productivity for very little in return.

Elsewhere, Lambrechts’ idiosyncratic pairings of text and image transform challenging subject-matter, such as the ongoing war in Ukraine and global warming, into something that’s easier to relate to and digest. These works do not seek to belittle these issues, only to provide a momentary sense of relief just as scenes depicting the jazz pianist Hank Jones serenading a woman or Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar on fire offer a simple pleasure in their playfulness and eccentricity. At the same time, there is a joyful defiance that runs throughout the exhibition, that understands laughter and play as a form of resistance, an animal instinct to burst free from external constraints.

‘The months I’ve been working on this show have been one of my most creative and productive periods in my life. It felt like there was no end to the inspiration – it kept flowing out of my body like some kind of raging energy,’ says Lambrechts. To encounter these works is to experience vitality and hope, the feeling of being free.

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Joachim Lambrechts: Dark Days Need Bright Spells

DARK DAYS NEED BRIGHT SPELLS

DARK DAYS NEED BRIGHT SPELLS

JOACHIM LAMBRECHTS

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