Leon de Bliquy, born in Johannesburg in 1943, attained an M.A (Fine Art) at Rhodes University. Since then, he has pursued a successful career as an artist who travels extensively, drawing on sights and cultural exchanges for inspiration. Leon's work is featured in collections at the IZIKO (S.A. National Gallery), Pretoria Art Museum, Bloemfontein Art Museum, Kimberley Art Museum, The Nelson Mandela Art Museum, Durban Art Museum, The Rembrandt Art Foundation, Sanlam and SASOL.

A Gathering of Jesters explores the idea of the fool as a cultural phenomenon. Leon has been creating a series of lithographs exploring this concept over a period of time between a studio on a mountainside farm outside Stellenbosch and Atelier Grande Village, a studio near Massignac, Angoulême in France. These lithographs will be exhibited with a series of paintings that express the true poetic nature of the artist.

My exhibition, 'A Gathering of Jesters' draws upon an allegorical reflection on madness by Sebastian Brant, who published 'Das Narre Schiff' in 1496. Jesters or Fools were assembled in an allegorical vessel that transported people who did not conform to the norm of society. I stepped out of the boat of accepted behaviour when I left South Africa in 1993 intent on an adventure as a freelance artist in Belgium.

In a dramatic turn of events, a container held on a ship, packed with my entire assemblage of material possessions was lost overboard in a storm off the coast of Portugal. I ended up in the harbour city of Ostend on the coast of Belgium, where studio space was provided for me by a notorious Notary in a landlocked, defunct property that was decorated with a plethora of nautical objects which supported his fantasies.

A large painting titled 'The Ship of Fools’ was made to celebrate another single handed expedition in a makeshift allegorical vessel. Prior to my intended departure on this apparently ludicrous undertaking, a well-wisher predicted impending disaster and designated the project to be that of an 'Ambitious Fool'.

Thus the inspiration to initiate a visual encounter with various aspects of this cultural phenomenon was born. The depth of meaning, humour and philosophical implications of this series of paintings, drawings and prints have created a stimulating and inspiring international response. - Leon de Bliquy