The title is inspired by a pamphlet written by Paul Gauguin and published in 1889 (this text criticizes the attempted purchase and subsequent loss to the Americans of Millet’s work The Angelus). The work proposed here is taken from a series of several paintings. Container figures are collected through the work of a painter, then, in a succinct manner, they are assembled in a composition that completely covers the space of the canvas. The painting is presented as a portrait, i.e. in a vertical manner: the idea of motif is thus raised.

Working across various mediums including painting, photography and sculpture Sébastien Bonin let’s the work decide which medium it needs to express itself.It is around narratives that the heart of Bonin’s work is situated, as his works appear in the course of digressions. Whether cinematic, literary, plastic, or musical, his work sometimes emanates from a word or a sound evoking different contemporary myths. In his plastic work, he considers painting as a space in which the references and notions common to our time are deconstructed by the use of iconographic elements, both current and archaic.​

The works are versatile and often allow for many degrees of reading. Without ever having to make them explicit, his assemblages play on our ability to identify and contextualize. The process of classification seems to be governed by new rules, where the works become the interface between our reality and the mental space of representation.​

Sébastien Bonin (1977, Brussels) lives and works in Brussels.​
His most recent solo exhibitions include shows at Karl Marx Studio, Paris (2021); Botanic Museum, Brussels (2020); Michel Rein Gallery, Brussels (2019); Montecristo Project, Sardinia, Italy (2018); Island, Brussels (2017); D+T Project, Brussels (2015); C-L-E-A-R-I-N-G, Brussels (2013). Additionally, his work has been included in institutional group exhibitions such as at Michel Rein Gallery, Paris (2020); the Museum of Ixelles, Brussels; De Warande, Turnhout; Venetiaanse gaanderijen, Oostend (2017); Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhaguen (2016); Johannes Vogt / New York; WIELS Contemporary Art Center / Brussels; Jeanrochdard, Paris; Croxhapox, Gent; Palais- des-Beaux Arts, Brussels (2014)​