Michel François

Michel François (b. 1956, Sint-Truiden, Belgium) lives and works in Brussels. His interest lies in exploring a variety of media, including installation, video, sculpture, photography, printed matter and painting, often combined and linked to create a larger idea. Through these techniques and materials, François comments on the relationships and contradictions we face in our public and private lives. Some are formal, such as convex versus concave forms, the connection between the external and the internal, or light versus dark. Others concern political "truths" versus deception and manipulation. Central to his work is the reconsideration of simple, familiar images, objects and everyday iconography. François claims no signature style. Instead, the meaning of each work builds over time and shifts with its placement and context, so that a plaster form, a crumpled mirror foil or a sheet of bent spring steel takes on new significance from one exhibition to the next. François took part in Documenta IX in Kassel (1992) and the XXII São Paulo Biennial (1994), and in 1999 he represented Belgium at the 48th Venice Biennale with Ann Veronica Janssens. Selected museum exhibitions include Contre nature, BOZAR, Brussels (2023); Panopticon, Yarat Contemporary Art Centre, Baku (2022); Pièce à conviction, Middelheim Museum, Antwerp (2016); Plans d'évasion, S.M.A.K., Ghent, and IAC Villeurbanne (2009–10); and Salon Intermédiaire, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2002). Recent solo exhibitions include Feuilles, Flaques, Anneaux et Sédiments, Mennour, Paris (2024); Escenas de Abandono, Gebauer, Madrid (2025); and Rotopaintings and Yawning Stones, Xavier Hufkens, Brussels (2026).