Alix Van Ripato and Marcin Sobolev
Alix Van Ripato is a multi-faceted, multi-disciplinary artist, most recently known for her work as an electronic musician.
Calling herself a performer, she has been passionate about Japan and its culture since childhood.
She finally set off to discover the country when she finished university in 2015. This was the start of her phantasmagorical saga, offering the public the chance to immerse themselves in her vision and experience of this long-awaited country in the form of global projects.
Born in 1991 (BE)
Lives and works in Brussels
Master's degree in drawing from La Cambre, Brussels
Marcin Sobolev is an artist who does not confine himself to a single practice.
His works cover a personal narrative, abstractly depicting extracts and scenes from everyday life in Black Sea cities and remote regions of Central Asia and Japan.
Between the influences of local music, folk art, shamanic culture, cultural and personal past, the artist develops his own visual language which, in his naive drawings and detailed installations, effortlessly conveys the energy of the places visited. The interplay of image and typography, symbol and context, detail and abstraction celebrates the vibrant aesthetic of everyday life in urban Japan and its picturesque countryside, and brings to the canvas what is often hidden: an impulsive creativity that produces art that is honest and pure.
Born in 1981(BE)
Lives and works in Brussels
Graduated in cabinet making at Arts et Métiers, Brussels
www.instagram.com/marcinsobolev/
www.instagram.com/studio_sobolev/
Alix and Marcin sometimes meet and join forces to invent by reinventing themselves. Recently reunited in Japan, lulled by the sound of metros with their robotic voices, hypnotised by the vintage neon lights of a bygone golden age, fascinated by the colourful ideograms painted on the entrances to temples and the faded signs on the deserted playgrounds at the top of the mountains, they offer a unique and colourful immersion: Playtime, a time for dreaming and letting go.
Nishōji
Project by artists Marcin Sobolev and Alix Van Ripato. Nishōji has as its starting point a trip to Japan made in October 2023 by the duo. It is now an project from Esch thanks to the collaboration between the Bridderhaus and FerroForum, which have enabled the artists to create a metal sculpture and accompanying soundtrack.
Composed of six natural elements representing the cave, plants, water, mountain, rock and sun, the human-sized sculpture invites the public, like a wishing tree, to come and affix a wooden plate donated by the artists, intended to receive the positive thoughts of participants. In keeping with the Playtime theme, the Nishōji sculpture is playful and childlike in its pop colors (inspired by Japan), inviting people to gather and share. This sculpture was conceived and designed by the artist duo, but realized by several hands: members of the FerroForum family introduced the two artists to metalworking, enabling them to add an innovative technical aspect to their respective projects, and offering them a rich human experience.
To bring the sculpture to life, Alix has created a sound journey based on Japanese field recording. Inspired by Shintoism and its animistic aspect, the 6 natural elements will “sing” one after the other in the form music pieces evoking the element it represents. Inspired by the Japanese ambient music of Hiroshi Yoshimura, this soundtrack plunges us into a poetic suspended time.
Played live on the day of the sculpture's inauguration, this soundtrack is available online on the artist's SoundCloud. You are welcome to listen to it individually or collectively. A limited edition audio cassette is available online here.
With the participation of the FerroForum and the Bridderhaus teams.
Central Asia, Galerie Baronian © Isabelle Arthuis
Misha © Martin Sobolev
Marcin Sobolev © Alix Van Ripato
Concert at Botanique © Antoine DFB
Alix Van Ripato © Antoine DBF
Concert Kily Star © JJPP