TI-76-06-048-3J-C ISBN: 92-896-0441-7

Jacques Crahay
Profession Painter

Cedefop Gallery
Europe 123 (Pylea), GR-57001 Thessaloniki
Tel. (30) 23 10 49 00 17, Fax (30) 23 10 49 00 20
E-mail: info@cedefop.europa.eu
Homepage: www.cedefop.europa.eu

Jacques Crahay
Profession Painter

Cedefop gallery 2006

Introduction
Jacques Crahay: profession artiste peintre

Avec lexposition Jacques Crahay, profession artiste peintre,

cest un jeune artiste belge que le Cedefop est heureux daccueillir Thessalonique.
Si Jacques Crahay est jeune, ce nest pas du fait de son ge,
mais en tant que peintre. Venu du monde du thtre, son parcours est une illustration exemplaire des possibilits de lapprentissage tout au long de la vie et de la formation permanente.
Comme pour beaucoup dentre nous aujourdhui, Jacques Crahay a exerc plusieurs mtiers la suite. Il appartient cette catgorie extrmement rare dindividus dont la vocation nat en
dehors de toute considration conomique. Cest sans doute
parce quil est devenu peintre lge de quarante ans quil sest
engag dans ce nouveau mtier avec ferveur, rigueur et mthode. Do galement la passion et lapplication avec lesquelles il a rpondu sa vocation. Aussi, ce jour, sa production ne
compte-t-elle pas moins de 500 tableaux sur toile et sur bois et
plusieurs milliers duvres diverses sur papier.
Les uvres que nous exposons font apparatre les jalons du cheminement de Jacques Crahay vers le style personnel et unique
qui est devenu le sien, lequel nest certes pas une mthode, mais
une exploration des correspondances exprimant qui il est, comment il est devenu ce quil est et ce quil a nous dire. Certains

tableaux sont dun style dramatique, dautres plus volubiles,

dautres encore dune grande lgance et clart. Nombre de ses
tableaux trouvent leur source dans linterrogation philosophique et donnent la reprsentation picturale dun concept, ou linterprtation subjective et motionnelle de quelque chose de
plus vaste. Son langage senracine dans larchtype.
Cette exposition saccompagne de quatre confrences que Jacques Crahay a bien voulu accepter de donner sur le thme du
mtier dartiste peintre, afin de nous faire mieux comprendre
en quoi consiste lexercice professionnel de ce mtier. Il nous
parlera de la prparation des matriaux, des couleurs et de lacte
pictural. Lors de la quatrime confrence, le fltiste belge Quentin Manfroy se joindra lui et ils nous feront partager ensemble
leur exploration des correspondances entre musique et art pictural.
` travers les expositions quil organise, le Cedefop entend contriA
buer la vie culturelle de Thessalonique et sengager activement dans la vie locale, tout en offrant des artistes venus dautres tats membres la possibilit de se prsenter en Grce. Ces
expositions visent galement illustrer ltroite corrlation entre lducation, le travail et la culture.

Aviana Bulgarelli

Christian F. Lettmayr

Directrice

Directeur adjoint

Introduction

Jacques Crahay: profession painter

Jacques Crahay:

The exhibition Jacques Crahay, profession painter brings a

young Belgian painter to Cedefop and Thessaloniki.
Jacques Crahay is not young as far as age is concerned, but young
as a painter. Coming from the theatre, he is a good example of
lifelong learning and continuing education. As many today must
during their professional life, he has changed profession several
times. He is an example of those who find their real vocation
later in life. Mr Crahay belongs to that exceedingly rare species
which follows its calling with a total disregard of the economic
consequences. Becoming a painter at the age of around 40 may
be the reason why he has worked himself into his new profession
with great dedication and in a very serious and methodological
manner. It may also be the reason for his passionate and diligent
pursuance of his vocation. His oeuvre now includes some 500
paintings on canvas or wood and several thousand works on
paper.
The pictures in this exhibition indicate the milestones on the
road to a distinctive and personal style, which has not become
a method but rather a fitting expression of who and how Jacques

Crahay is and what he needs to tell us. His pictures are sometimes
theatrical, sometimes bavarde, and sometimes very elegant and
clear. Many of his paintings originate in the philosophical a
pictorial depiction of a concept, a subjective, emotional interpretation
of something more general. His language is rooted in archetypes.
The exhibition is accompanied by four lectures which Jacques
Crahay has agreed to give. They are on the profession of painter
and provide us with a better understanding of what it means to
be a professional painter. They deal with the preparation of the
materials, the colours and the act of painting. In the fourth lecture
he will be accompanied by a Belgian flautist, Mr Quentin Manfroy,
and together they will explore some of the relations between
music and painting.
Cedefops exhibitions have always been a way to contribute to
the cultural life of Thessaloniki and to show our commitment to
our environment, but they are also an opportunity to bring artists
from other Member States to Greece. Finally, these exhibitions
reflect on the close relation between education, work and culture.

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Aviana Bulgarelli

Christian F. Lettmayr

Aviana Bulgarelli

Christian F. Lettmayr

Director

Deputy Director

La peinture est ma recherche de la parole perdue sans paroles

Painting is my search for the lost word without words

Jacques Crahay

Jacques Crahay

N Ougre en 1951 parmi les fonderies et les laminoirs, Jacques

Crahay entame 14 ans des tudes thtrales au Conservatoire
de Lige. Au gr des rencontres, travers un itinraire de gueulard, il partage les ides anarchistes de certains contemporains.
Il travaille dans divers thtres belges pendant 25 ans en tant
que comdien, clairagiste, dcorateur et metteur en scne.
Las dtre la marionnette des metteurs en scne et souhaitant
couper ses fils, il se dcouvre dans les annes 90 une vritable
passion pour la peinture, avec pour point de depart quelques
formes esquisses avec du caf. De lartiste porteur de masques,
il devient celui qui les baisse, sans pudeur. Exaspr par le pouvoir
castrateur du langage sur le domaine de la pense et des motions,
il part la dcouverte des possibilits permises par lacte pictural
pour instaurer un nouveau langage, sans paroles.
Dans la priode actuelle, le peintre monte lui-mme ses chssis,
broie et mlange ses couleurs. Cette prparation fait partie du
processus cratif qui mne loeuvre finale. Il laisse volontiers
le hasard amorcer la cration lorsquil mlange les techniques,
tout en appliquant certaines rgles de base. En refusant de se
limiter un style pictural, lartiste a choisi la voie dune perptuelle remise en question lencontre de la schmatique habituelle impose par le march de lart. Cette pluralit donne
chaque oeuvre son autonomie. Il se plat citer la formule de
Paul Klee: Ich bin mein Stil.
Cet autodidacte fait galement rfrence un autre gant dont
il admire la multiplicit et quil nomme monsieur Picasso.
La main mapprend ce que jai dans lesprit (Pablo Picasso).

Loeuvre de Nietzsche et de Deleuze sont dautres sources

auxquelles il puise ses forces actives de rflexion. Lacte pictural
devient un chemin initiatique o lon se retrouve seul face la
matire et la couleur, mais aussi face soi-mme.
Au fil du temps, Jacques Crahay sest constitu sa propre grammaire (Ari Mandelbaum) qui dcline chaque instant de sa vie.
Les oeuvres purement abstraites ne sont pas sa tasse de caf.
` ct de travaux figuratifs o apparaissent des visages hurlants,
pensifs, des bouffons rvolts, des animaux quasi mythologiques, il nous emmne parfois dans des univers plus complexes
dont mergent des formes ressemblant des corps, des visages,
des lments ou leurs symboles. En nous ouvrant un monde
o le spectateur doit frayer son chemin plusieurs niveaux, il
nous oblige commencer la lecture l o la smantique manque
de finesse pour nommer certaines nuances dmotion.
Jacques Crahay se dcrit comme amoral, individualiste, goste...et
fier de ltre. Les bons sentiments humains sont mis mal par
un humour virulent. Ses titres coups de poing accompagnent
des travaux drangeant par la justesse du propos. Le germe de
lanarchie pointe au travers de son travail. Il affirme, se rfrant
luvre du philosophe Max Stirner, ne vouloir donner de leon
personne.
La peinture de Jacques Crahay est son image, limage de ltre
selon Deleuze: un et multiple.

Chlo Thibault

Born in Ougre in 1951 in the midst of foundries and rolling

mills, at the age of 14 Jacques Crahay entered the Lige
Conservatory to study drama. Making his boisterous way
through life, he shared the anarchist ideas of some of his
contemporaries. He worked in various Belgian theatres for 25
years as an actor, lighting designer, set designer and director.
Tiring of being the puppet of directors and wanting to cut the
strings, in the 1990s he discovered in himself a true passion for
painting. His starting point was to sketch a few shapes with
coffee. From being a wearer of masks, he became an artist who
fearlessly strips them off. Exasperated by the power of language
to castrate thought and emotion, he started off on a voyage of
discovery of the possibilities opened up by the act of painting
for establishing a new language, a language without words.
Today he stretches his own canvasses and crushes and mixes
his own paints, seeing this preparation as part of the creative
process that leads to the final work. He is content to leave it to
chance to spark off a creation, combining various techniques
but still applying certain basic rules. By refusing to be confined
to one style of painting, the artist has opted for the path of
constantly questioning the conventional rigidity of form
imposed by the art market. This plurality gives each of his
works its own autonomy. He is fond of citing Paul Klee: Ich bin
mein Stil I am my own style.
This self-taught artist also quotes another giant whose
multiplicity he admires and whom he calls Mr Picasso: La
main mapprend ce que jai dans lesprit my hand teaches
me what I have in my mind.

The works of Nietzsche and Deleuze are other sources on

which he draws for his active force of thinking. The act of
painting becomes an initiation, a road one travels to find
oneself alone face to face with matter and with colour, but also
face to face with oneself.
Over the years, Jacques Crahay has created his own grammar
(Ari Mandelbaum), which declines every moment of his life.
The purely abstract is not his cup of tea.
In addition to his figurative works in which he depicts
screaming faces, thoughtful faces, clowns in revolt or semimythological animals, at times he leads us into more complex
universes with looming shapes that might be bodies, faces, the
elements or their symbols. By opening up a world through
which the spectator has to force his way at several levels, he
makes us start to comprehend certain nuances of emotion
where words lack the finesse to describe them.
Jacques Crahay describes himself as amoral, an individualist,
egoistic ... and proud of it. Good human sentiments are
undermined by his virulent humour. His punchy titles are
attached to works that are disconcerting in the way they hit
the nail on the head. The seed of anarchy sprouts through the
surface of his art. Referring to the work of the philosopher Max
Stirner, he declares that he does not wish to teach anybody
anything.
Jacques Crahays painting is in his own image, in the image of
being as defined by Deleuze: pluralism = monism.

Chlo Thibault


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Chlo Thibault (K )

Linsulte
The insult /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
50x70 cm

 Le volcan
The volcano /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
45x55 cm
Avec la mort pour quipage
With death in the retinue /
(huile sur bois maroufl de toile / oil on wood-backed canvas/
)
87,5x122 cm

Voie sans issue

Dead end /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
50x60 cm

 Le Doge et la mouche
The Doge and the fly /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
50x70 cm
La tte poing
The head fist / To
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
50x70 cm

La palette en colre
Savage colours /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
24x30 cm cm

 Le feu
The fire /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
50x60 cm

Lopinion publique ou Oratoire et laboratoire

Pubic opinion or Oratory and laboratory /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
40x50 cm

 Le voleur de miel ( Fernando Pessoa)

The honey thief (for Fernando Pessoa) / ( )
(huile sur papier / oil on paper / )
50x72 cm

Le tombeau de Lonard
Leonards tomb /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
50x70 cm

 Le procs
The trial /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
70x100 cm
Sans remords
Without remorse /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
60x64,5 cm

Loger
Lodging /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
30x40 cm

 Camaieu lquerre
Monochrome at right angles /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
30x40 cm
Le guetteur
The lookout /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
50x70 cm

Arlequin et la gnose
Harlequin and gnosis /
(huile sur papier / oil on paper / )
52x56 cm

 Egypte
Egypt /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
30x40 cm

Lclair
Lightning flash /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
30x40 cm

 Promthe
Prometheus /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
60x90 cm
La faille et la porte
The flaw and the door /
(huile sur bois maroufl de toile / oil on wood-backed canvas /
)
50x70 cm

Turbulences sur le Delta

Turbulence in the Delta /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
38x46 cm

 Attention fascisme
Beware of fascism / ,
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
37x46,3 cm

Brisures
Debris /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
30x40 cm

 La cause et leffet
Cause and effect /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
80x90 cm

Le silence est dor

Silence is golden /
(huile sur papier cartonn / oil on cardboard / )
51x72 cm

 Synthtique
Synthetic /
(toiles et huile sur bois / canvas and oil on bois /
)
90x140 cm

Le dsir victorieux
Desire victorious /
(huile sur papier enduit / oil on coated paper /
)
52x73 cm

 Lhomme-arbre
The tree-man / -
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
83,5x110 cm
En subissant les sortilges antismites
Under the spell of anti-Semitism /

(huile sur papier / oil on paper / )
50x65 cm

Netsah
Netsah /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
60x75 cm

 Philosophe
Philosopher /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
55x40 cm
Na quune dent
Just one tooth /
(huile sur papier toil / oil on textured paper /
)
50x65 cm

Le Loup ( Henri Michaux)

The wolf (for Henri Michaux) / ( )
(huile sur papier toil / oil on textured paper / )
52x65 cm

 Gisement
Bearings /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
27x35 cm

Sept astres
Seven stars /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
40x55 cm

 Le nageur
The swimmer /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas /
)
34,5x50 cm

Un soleil peut en cacher un autre

One sun can hide another /
(huile sur toile maroufle de papier / oil on paper-backed canvas /
)
23x30,5 cm

 Ecce Homo
Ecce Homo /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
43x53 cm
La Chasse
The hunt /
(huile sur toile / oil on canvas / )
60x120 cm

Europe 123
GR-57001 Thessaloniki
Tel. (30) 23 10 49 00 17
info@cedefop.europa.eu
www.cedefop.europa.eu

Organisation/contact
Mary Karagiozopoulou

Luxembourg:
Office for Official Publications
of the European Communities

ISBN 92-896-0441-7
Cat. No: TI-76-06-048-3J-C

Cedefop, 2006
all rights reseved

Printed in Luxembourg
Designed by: Colibri
Thesssaloniki, July 2006