Jean Marchetti

The exhibition jean marchetti hairdresser gallerist publisher 50 years of images & words highlights the singular journey of Jean Marchetti (Boussu, 1952), an unconventional figure on the Belgian art scene, who has worked simultaneously as a hairdresser, gallery owner and publisher. Driven by constant curiosity and a self-proclaimed freedom of vision, he developed, from the very beginning of his career, an intimate relationship with paper and the printed object. At the age of 21, he opened a hair salon in Saint-Gilles where he welcomed clients one at a time, many of whom were artists. From these encounters gradually emerged an exhibition activity, leading in 1976 to the creation of the Salon d’Art, a space where personalities such as Pierre Alechinsky, Roland Topor, Kikie Crêvecœur and Paul Cox met alongside many other creators.

In 1982, Jean Marchetti extended this dynamic by founding the publishing house La Pierre d’Alun, conceived as a space for dialogue between writers and visual artists. Through its various collections, he explored diverse editorial forms, encouraging encounters between text and image while paying particular attention to the material qualities of the book. Each publication reflected this desire to create sensitive, accessible objects shaped by original collaborations, bringing together authors from diverse backgrounds.

The exhibition offered a journey through this adventure built over years of encounters, bringing together works by artists exhibited in the gallery as well as a representative selection of published editions. It outlined a subjective panorama of several decades of commitment to contemporary creation, where loyalty, intuition and a taste for discovery intertwined. Through this trajectory emerged the portrait of a thoughtful mediator, for whom art and publishing have above all constituted spaces for sharing and experimentation.

With works by :  
Pierre Alechinsky, Nathalie Amand, Eduardo Arroyo, Glen Baxter, Pierre Bettencourt, Jorge Camacho, Jacques Charlier, Gerardo Chavez, Roman Cieslewicz, Roby Comblain, Paul Cox, Kikie Crêvecœur, Stefan de Jaeger, Jacques de Loustal, Camille De Taeye, Jo Delahaut, Anne Desobry, Erró, Yu Hirai, Alexandre Hollan, Koyuki Kazahaya, Aki Kuroda, Thierry Lenoir, Muriel Logist, Arié Mandelbaum, Stéphane Mandelbaum, Marcel Mariën, Thierry Mortiaux, Olivier O. Olivier, Simon Outers, Pol Piérart, Pierre Radisic, Reinhoud, Roland Roure, Jean Rustin, Antonio Seguí, André Stas, Jonathan Steelandt, Roland Topor, Marc Trivier, Dan Van Severen, Vladimir Velickovic, Jacques Villeglé, Jan Voss, Yves Zurstrassen.