Manuela Papeians is a Belgian sculptress, born in Bruges on 25 December 1964.
She graduated as an architect from the ISA Saint-Luc in Brussels and practised her profession for several years in various Brussels offices before moving abroad in the early 1990s, first to Boston (USA), then to Barranquilla (Colombia) and finally to Paris. In all, she left Belgium for more than ten years. On her return, she resumed her activity as an architect, but this time with a social function to help vulnerable populations.
Drawing, modelling and sculpting have always been part of her world: "I always had this in me", she says. Circumstances make it difficult at first, but her desire persists and it is finally in 2010 that she starts to put her hands in the clay. First at the Atelier de la Ligne d'Horizon, then at the Ecole des Arts de Braine-l'Alleud and finally at the Atelier du Dieweg.
She works clay, which she likes to touch, to make the form emerge from the mass. She likes its suppleness, its slippery nature. She likes to shape it and to see that it sometimes slips away. She soon decides to cast her works in bronze.
Manuela Papeians is not only a figurative sculptress, but above all she is a sculptress of the human nature, a sculptress of joy, of happiness, of emotion... One could say a sculptress of femininity and generosity.
"My hands try to express the emotions that are hidden in the depths of my heart. Sometimes I contemplate, sometimes I dance, sometimes I jump for joy, ... sometimes I think, sometimes I dream, ...
Dancing curves that appear, that assert themselves : to carry you away in your own dreams ? I like to represent the present moment, a moment of life. Beyond the moment, the movement that continues : perhaps it is simply life that I love?
I try to express the good and the beautiful, like a balm to heal the sorrows of this world or to remind you of the good and the beautiful of this world ? Just to please and to please oneself... "
Gallery
Art Gallery Frans Vanhove - Leuven - Since 2021
Charline Kervyn Contemporary Art Gallery - Gent - since 2022
Maison Galerie Le Cactus Bleu - Reugny (France)
Balthasar Brussels - Brussels - 2020 -2021
Exhibitions
Let’s Art in Uccle - Brussels - December 2023
Magie de Noël - Sart-Risbart - December 2023
Fêtes de la Saint-Martin - Tourinnes-La-Grosse - November 2023
Gallery Art Story - Knokke- Knokke - August 2023
Parcours d’Artistes - Grez-Doiceau - Juin 2023
Ferme du Mouchon by Isabelle - Rebecq - April 2023
Brussels Affordable art fair with Art Gallery Frans Van Hove - March 2023
Sony Galerie - Brussels - September 2022
GH Market - Brussels - May 2022
Ferme du Mouchon by Isabelle - Rebecq - April 2022
Brussels Affordable art fair with Art Gallery Frans Van Hove - March 2022
ChARTres – Festival des Arts - Chartres, France - March 2022
Women in Art - Brussels - November 2021
GH Market - Brussels - October 2021
Parcours d’Artistes Limal - ProfondsARTlimal - september 2021
Sablon d’Art - Brussels - April 2021
Art’ is big - Waterloo - January 2021
L’art des confinés l’art déconfiné - Annevoie - september 2020
Perpetuum Mobile Festival - Brussels - August 2020 (Virtual edition (You tube)
Château Sainte-Anne - Brussels - March 2020
Nationa(a)l Artist Supermarket - Brussels - December 2019
Fêtes de la Saint-Martin - Tourinnes-La-Grosse - November 2019
A POSTeriori 2 - Art Exhibition - Brussels - April 2019
ChARTres – Festival des Arts 2019 - Chartres - March 2019
Salon des Artistes de l’ANRB - Brussels - October 2018
Journée des Talents - Moeren - Pays-Bas - September 2018
Perpetuum Mobile Festival - Brussels - August 2018
SISTER’S ART - Adornes Domein - Bruges - May to september 2018
A POSTeriori - Art Exhibition - Brussels - April 2018
ChARTres – Festival des Arts 2018 - Chartres, France - March 2018
Fêtes de la Saint-Martin - Tourinnes-La-Grosse - November 2017
Rodéart - Rhode-Saint-Genèse - October 2017
ChARTres – Festival des Arts 2017 - Chartres - France- March 2017
Parcours d’Artistes Limal - ProfondsARTlimal – September 2016
Maison Roger - Bruxelles – April to June 2016
Château Sainte-Anne - Brussels - Mars 2016
Sablon d’Art - Brussels - January 2016
« Grâce » Ethiea Gestion - Paris 8è - France - December 2015
Fêtes de la Saint-Martin - Tourinnes-La-Grosse - November 2015
Rodéart - Rhode-Saint-Genèse - October 2015
Château Sainte-Anne - Brussels - March 2015
Fêtes de la Saint-Martin - Tourinnes-La-Grosse - November 2014
L’Art au secours de l’Habitat #6 - Asbl Convivence – Brussels - May 2014
Rodéart - Rhode-Saint-Genèse - October 2013
Skin&Soul Gallery - Brussels - June 2013
Lumières d’Ailleurs - Moeren – Pays-Bas - September 2012
KKT Kunst. Kleurt.Tuinen - Melle - June 2012