PAUL TRAJMAN
BIOGRAPHY
Paul Trajman (b. 1960, Brussels) is a Belgian artist whose work is rooted in the legacy of Art Brut and the COBRA movement.
Working primarily in black ink, he develops a visual language driven by gesture, immediacy and inner necessity.
His practice rejects correction and premeditation in favour of a direct and continuous act of drawing, where instinct prevails over composition.
Figures, faces, signs and hybrid forms emerge through an automatic process, allowing the image to unfold freely through movement and repetition. Oscillating between abstraction and figuration, his works reveal a dense and pulsating inner world, shaped by both spontaneity and tension.
Trajman’s work resonates with that of Pierre Alechinsky, Henri Michaux and Jackson Pollock, while maintaining a singular position within contemporary drawing practices.
Drawing from his background and knowledge as an art historian, he nourishes his practice through a dialogue between modern painting, primitive forms and subconscious imagery.
As noted by Bernard Noël, Trajman’s painting is not constructed but enacted — an immediate inscription of thought through movement.
His work has been exhibited internationally and is included in several public and private collections.
Working primarily in black ink, he develops a visual language driven by gesture, immediacy and inner necessity.
EXHIBITIONS
1994 — Campo, Antwerp
1992 — Gallery Dannenberg, New York
1991 — Gallery Hugo Godderis, De Panne
1990 — Gallery Michel Vokaer, Brussels
1989 — Gallery Sonia K., Lille
1989 — Culture House of Namur
1986 — Romi Goldmuntz Centrum, Antwerp
1985 — Métropole Hotel Gallery, Brussels
COLLECTIONS
Private Collections
Romi Goldmuntz Centrum, Antwerp
Fabrice Finkelstein, Miami
Madonna Louise Ciccone, New York
Eric Mesdagh
Edward Albee
Horta Museum, Brussels
Serge Goyens de Heusch, Brussels
Public Collections
Jewish Museum of Belgium, Brussels
Belgian Art Museum, Brussels
Crédit Communal de Belgique, Brussels Jerusalem Museum of Modern Art, Jerusalem
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels
Banque Degroof
Tel Aviv Museum of Art
FRAC Marseille
MAMAC Nice
Bibliography
Bernard Noël
Paul Trajman ou la main qui pense
Ypsilon Éditeur, 1994
Antonio Moyano (Préface de Gerard Prezsow) Conversation avec Paul Trajman
Editions Tandem, 2021
Selected Writings
Barbara Emerson - Jean Dubuffet - Jo Justin - Antoine Emaz - Michel Dekerpel - Danièle Gillemon - Serge Goyens de Heusch - Gilbert Lascault Georges Meurant - Anita Nardon - Gérard Preszow - Elias Preszow- Jacques Sojcher - Yvon Tallandier Freddy de Vree - Eddy Devolder
IMAGES
Portrait of Paul Trajman
Stéphane Mandelbaum, 1985
Portrait of Paul Trajman
Marc Trivier
Photographic Portraits of Paul Trajman
Boris Lehman
FILMOGRAPHY
Le Divorce de mes Marrants
Film by Romy Trajman & Anaïs Straumann Lévy
2022, 82 min
Screened in cinemas and broadcast on RTBF
Available on ARTE VOD
Encre sur Encre
Film by Sarah Blum
2009, 22 min
Comme un Torrent
Film by André Goldberg
2007, 7 min