Herb Cells - Coffee and India ink illustrations
In this culture of screens and other priorities Herbert Celis (Herb Cells) hadn't touched the real stuff since 2015, i.e. watercolour paper, pen and ink (apart from coffee, which he continued to drink incessantly).
Now he's back to using the aforementioned beverage to create his JazzPresso Ristretto illustrations, which will be his 9th series. Coffee and Indian ink are manipulated on paper instead of paint in a technique similar to watercolour.
In these caffeinated caricatures, he visualises the impressions that jazz evokes in him. Often, the space seems too small for some of the excessive trances, and the illustrations exude a claustrophobic tension.
The question on the agenda is the place of the female (jazz) musician, always in the minority under the spotlights. Herb's response to this question was a triple exhibition at the River Jazz 2022 festival, taking place in 3 venues: Le Senghor, Le Marni and the Jazzstation! Some of you may still remember his exhibition at the 2015 edition of the same festival.
{Herb is from Hasselt, has been drawing since he was 6, has a degree in cartoon making, founded Naff label & management in 2012 and has toured as a lyricist/guest mc in several bands (Wild Boar & Bull bb, Frown-I-Brown, GLÜ, Estelle Goldfarb, Boris Viande, DJ Click, JayRay & ReeDoo, ...). His current music project is @fokkop.era
Opening on Thursday 24 November at 18:00 at BAR du Marni
