Fred Michiels

Illegal or "bootleg" paintings on official documents.

For Fred Michiels, painting is not a hostile act fueled by color. No matter how many (nonexistent) laws and regulations are violated, painting is still the hero of his story.

Michiels is preparing an exhibition featuring urgent and often uncomfortable aesthetics on official documents. He jokingly calls them "bootleg" paintings, because formal experiments are not allowed on official documents.
He calls these painted maneuvers "tactical" and "non-risk-averse."

Michiels has been collecting old books and magazines for years. The forms he uses in this series are based on images in (automotive) technical magazines from the 1950s and 1960s.

The Office of Useless Art will produce a publication for the opening on Friday, September 11th, at the small museum in Nismes, on the border with France. A booklet made up of "spare parts," all found in those automotive magazines. A booklet, too, about controlled derailments.
It's an ironic, inventive decision by Michiels to import shapes into his paintings whose appearance precisely expresses their intended purpose, and whose color isn't neutral.

1983-1988 Sint Lucas in Antwerp
1995-1996 Cooper Union NYC

I have been exhibiting almost everywhere in Europe since 1999
the most important ones are the art fairs in Cologne, Berlin, Rotterdam, The Hague, Luxembourg and Brussels.


2002-2004 Annie gentils Gallery, Antwerp
2005-2007 Ottilia Pribilla Gallery, Antwerp
2009-2024 Eva Steynen Gallery, Antwerp
2017-2024 The Office of Useless Art (nomadic gallery in europe)
2017 Art Köln
2019-2022 Positions Berlin
2023-2024 Art on Paper Brussels
2023 Artweek Luxembourg
2024 CAS Ostend
2024 Stichting Pim De Rudder Assenede (B)
2026 Museum of the small format, Nismes (B)