BRUSSELS.- In Italian cuisine, mantecatura refers to the technique of combining pasta or rice with sauce to achieve a creamy, smooth texture.

In Sébastien Bonin’s latest solo exhibition, mantecatura represents Savoie, the missing link in the artist’s work. This mountainous department, bordering Italy, embodies part of the artist’s identity and family heritage, which he draws on to give his experience a universal scope. In Sébastien Bonin’s artistic universe, mountains and rurality connect identities, eras and techniques, nourishing and shaping his work.

Sébastien Bonin, who in painting loves above all the assembly of colors, composition and framing, offers us here his own unique cut-outs, combining three dimensions with two dimensions for a layered exhibition, both in space and in levels of interpretation.

First, there is a play of dichotomies in the works presented, creating a constant tension between the personal and the universal, the ancestral and the contemporary, the artisanal and the manufactured, the fundamental and the anecdotal, the timeless and the ephemeral, all sublimated by the evocation of mountain life.

Next comes the elevation of everyday agricultural objects and tools—such as the blueberry comb or the trough—to the status of sculpture, by reproducing them using modern techniques or modifying their structure to the point where they lose all functionality, as in the case of the pair of clogs or the bells. This gesture by the artist reflects the curiosity and enthusiasm with which he approaches the world and its transformations. The works are imbued with a certain nostalgia, where contemporaneity replaces the patina of time.

Ultimately, what strikes us most when we discover Mantecatura’s works is the central place given to memory. Sébastien Bonin’s work is akin to a quest that is both intimate and collective. Through his works, he highlights those seemingly insignificant elements that shape us — individually, but also as a society.

Perhaps that is what mantecatura ultimately is: a link between the intimate and the collective. This tension between two worlds gives our memories their unique flavor. And that is when we touch on the very heart of Sébastien Bonin’s artistic practice: images that speak of the world between personal reminiscences and societal reflections.

Alice Lefebvre
August 2025