MICHIEL DENECKERE

EDJI Gallery is pleased to present the inaugural solo exhibition in Brussels of Belgian artist Michiel Deneckere (b. 2002, Ghent), running through November 20th in Brussels.

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Michiel Deneckere searches for images that carry multiple layers of meaning, one immediate and recognizable, another more elusive and open to interpretation.

In Reverse Déjà Vu, scenes set in the city of Ghent are the focal point. Almost entirely devoid of human presence, these paintings capture a quiet nocturnal stillness, creating an alienation of the familiar and transforming the ordinary into something strangely distant.

For Michiel, painting begins where photography ends. His process starts with a iPhone image, fragments taken while wandering through the city he grew up in. These digital sketches are later reframed, cropped, and finally slowed down through paint. The result is a sequence of quiet, cinematic scenes that seem to hover between the familiar and unknown.

The title refers to a psychological state also known as jamais vu. As opposed to a déjà vu, it describes the moment when something well-known suddenly feels strange or unfamiliar, as if the brain briefly forgets and time seems to hold its breath. 

His nocturnal views of Ghent hum with this tension and depict fragments of a city charged with a quiet, almost uncanny presence. Streets, facades, and structures are depicted with the precision of memory yet strangely distant, as if seen for the first time.

The series began with a self-portrait (Zelfportret Van Een Twintiger, 2025), initially intended as a technical exercise. Instead, it became the starting point for a wider reflection on introspection and youth. The figure depicts an ordinary young man, thoughtful, uncertain, and caught in a moment of self-reflection. From there, the paintings unfold like echoes of that gaze: fragments of perception, recollections, or moments that feel detached.

Across the exhibition, the works respond to one another like scenes in a slow, silent film. Each composition is precisely tuned, creating a rhythm between light and darkness, interior and exterior, presence and absence. Night emerges as a recurring setting, a suspended moment where time dissolves into a kind of vacuum. While the surreal quietness evokes De Chirico, Spilliaert, and David Lynch alike, the contrasts and dark backgrounds recall the chiaroscuro of Caravaggio.

Above all, Reverse Déjà Vu is an ode to observation, to the way perception can shift from recognition to wonder. These paintings invite us to linger on the ordinary and to find, within their stillness, something quietly disorienting.

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Opening preview :

12.11.2025 from 6 to 8pm | EDJI Gallery, 15 rue du Page, 1050 Brussels

Inquiries :

Email : hello@edjigallery.com | WhatsApp : +32 455 12 87 45