Gratitude
1996 – 2014

In a doctor’s waiting room, Olivier Pestiaux “accidentally” made a drawing in automatic writing in a black notebook. It was only a few days later that he realized what the drawing represented: a car falling, the depiction of his tragic accident that had occurred a few months earlier. Struck by the shock it caused him, he decided to buy a stock of red notebooks to distinguish them from the inaugural black one. The activity of the notebooks had begun… Below is a selection of drawings made in these notebooks over an 18-year period between 1996 and 2014.

Gratitude is dedicated to Catherine, his sister who died in that accident on September 28, 1996, and to Catherine, his wife.

Gratitude is the virtue of mourning.
Work exhibited in 2014 at the Art Concepts – Esther Verhaeghe gallery.