FESTIV’ART 2004 – 1st Brux-Hell Exhibition

Once upon a time, there was “Bruss-Hell”. With this magical phrase, which opens the doors of fantasy and imagination, our story begins.

Ever since Salvius Brabo threw the hand of the giant Antigoon in the river Scheld, Belgium became a country drenched with fantasy. Our painters have assimilated this for a long time, from Bosch to Rops by passing through the inevitable Magritte. The list is too long to name them all.

It’s in the spirit of extending this tradition that three Big, Beautiful, Admired, Brilliant and Elevated Brussels Fantasy Galleries (or the B.B.A.B.E.B.F.G), being the Museum of Fantasy Art, the Arkel Body Art Gallery and the Galerie d’Enfer, under the protective wings of their foster mother, the Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film (the BIFFF), united to form the horrible and monstrous collective “Bruss-Hell”.

This exhibition will delight our thirsty and alcoholic admirers (we won’t mention any names, even under torture), because during the Festival, it will take place at the bar of the Passage 44. The walls of the B.B.A.B.E.B.F.G. will of course also be plastered with fantasy art.

This year, the artists-initiators will launch an invitation to everybody who would like to participate to this joint exhibition in 2005. By means of a contest, we’ll select the best of you and the exhibited works will be immortalised in a catalogue. Even more, a website, where the artists will be able to virtually exhibit their works, will be accessible during the entire year.

Bruce H.