Traces of Presence

PAPER WORKS BY

DARJA EßER & ILSE PIERARD​

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This exhibition brings together, for the first time, two artists whose creative practices are clearly distinct from each other but also present highly interesting connections. Through the exclusive use of paper of all sorts, be it found or self-made, Darja Eßer and Ilse Pierard both create subtle and introspective wall objects, often in several transparent layers and in soothing colours. Upon closer look, their works gently suggest a human presence, yet without making it visible, rather in the form of intriguing traces questioning us of what was before and will be coming next.
 

Darja Eßer’s artistic process is based on a sensitive approach to paper as a material and deep understanding of drawing as a physical and spatial practice. Working with Kozo paper and ink, she creates two-dimensional works and hand-sewn paper sculptures. The paper detaches itself from its traditional role as a mere text or image carrier, transforming the practice of drawing into a sculptural gesture.
 

At the heart of her work lies a phenomenological approach to materiality, space, body and the sense of touch. The sensory qualities of paper shape her artistic process and the way her works are being experienced by the viewer. The paper, threads, and ribbons gently respond to movements in the room, set in motion by the slightest air currents. They evoke the body as an archive of past experiences and as the place where perception begins before language.

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Born in 1987, Darja lives and works in Bonn, Germany. She studied art at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts and at the Brussels Royal Academy of Fine Arts (drawing class) before completing her postgraduate studies (Meisterschülerstudium) with Prof. Monika Brandmeier in Dresden. She is an alumna of the Hans-Böckler-Foundation and artist in residence of the Fondation Boghossian, Villa Empain in Brussels (2023). Her works have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions, mainly in Germany and the Netherlands, most recently at Villa Zanders, Bergisch Gladbach, where her work is included in the museum's collection "Art Made of Paper".
 

Ilse Pierard explores the delicate threshold where matter and memory converge. Her works, composed of single or multiple layers of found paper, silk paper, transparent paper or metal foil, are fragile and powerful. The abstracted oval form - the cell - a recurring motif throughout her oeuvre, functions as an archetype: elementary, universal, and charged with meanings that point to life, vulnerability and resilience. Old documents, cardboard supports and folders carry their own history, traces of time, touch, and impermanence. Like fragments from an unknown culture or personal genealogy, these materials are reconfigured into silent objects.
 

Ilse embraces their marks of wear and integrates them into her visual language. Paper becomes a vessel of memory and echo, of stories that do not speak loudly but gently seep through. Her work is imbued with charged silence. Layers torn, folded, and rebuilt form a skin that breathes and catches light. This subtle interplay between revealing and concealing invites the viewer to slow down. Her works do not fix any meaning but leave space for physical, intuitive, affective experience. In their simplicity and restraint, they become poeticwitnesses to the invisible rhythms that sustain life.
 

Born in 1976, Ilse lives and works near Antwerp. She holds a Master of Visual Arts of Sint Lukas School of Arts, Brussels. Her artworks have been exhibited widely in Belgium and abroad, and a collective show including her “cells” is currently taking place in Paris. She is represented by Coppejans Gallery, Antwerp, to which we express our gratitude for the good collaboration having permitted this vibrant duo show.

Text: Robert Klotz