Some of the galleries are out there for ages. For example Denise Rene in Paris and Willy Schoots in Antwerp but there is also Deweer gallery who have a presence in the gallery world since 1979. When you visit the gallery it is more like a small sized museum than a typical gallery. A huge surface, situated in an old factory with separate rooms, make it suitable to present a diversified collection. Artists from the gallery range from Jan Fabre to Mark Wallinger. http://www.ftn-books.com carries some sold out Deweer publications from the last decades.
The Deweer site gives the following information on the history of the gallery:
Deweer Gallery (est. 1979) is a leading second-generation gallery specialized in national and international contemporary art. Gerald and Bart Deweer are its owners and directors. The gallery is located in a building with approximately 1,200 m² of exhibition spaces in the rural town of Otegem, in Belgium. Deweer Gallery, representing more than twenty artists, focuses exclusively on work that evinces a combination of critical and poetic qualities. Well-known for its representation of artists such as Stephan Balkenhol, Jan Fabre, Günther Förg, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov and Panamarenko, the gallery has a reputation for building artists. Deweer Gallery has been working together with these artists for more than two/three decades. The early detection of talent is its trademark. It is evident in, among other things, their current supporting of artists such as Melissa Gordon, George Little, Enrique Marty, Benjamin Moravec, Nasan Tur, Anna Vogel and Andy Wauman.
HISTORY
From father to sons
Mark Deweer’s passion for collecting art led to the creation of Deweer Gallery in 1979. Mark was the driving force and the initiator. His nose for artistic talent and his business acumen, along with the unconditional support of his wife Marleen Deweer, made for an ideal combination that would make the realization of his dream possible.
Raised surrounded by art, their two sons, Gerald and Bart Deweer, know the world of art from within. Gradually, they took over the management of the gallery. Gerald and Bart want the gallery to continue to play a dynamic, ambitious and leading role on the international contemporary art scene. They aim to continue to promote artists on the basis of strong internal/external exhibitions and participations in international art fairs such as Art Cologne (since 1995), ARCO Madrid (since 2001) and recently also miart (Fiera Milano).
Building
Since the middle of the 1980s, Deweer Gallery is located in an unusually spacious building that once housed a small industrial enterprise. In 2011-2012, the spaces of the gallery were thoroughly renovated. Far-reaching architectural interventions were carried out, such as a doubling of the publicly accessible spaces (the lobby and three exhibition rooms) to a total area of approximately 1200m². In September 2012, the new gallery opened with the group exhibition ‘Re-Opening’, which clearly showcased the rejuvenation and renewal of the gallery program.
