Guy Leclef (BE, 1962) is a contemporary artist based near Antwerp. His practice revolves around the transformation of paper, magazines, books, and cardboard into layered sculptural compositions. Strips of paper deployed like paint, cut, sliced, impregnated, and reassembled, form the raw material of an oeuvre that continuously searches for balance between fragility and strength, chaos and order, memory and erasure. Often described as poetic recycling, Leclef’s work elevates discarded matter into architectural and lyrical forms, treating paper with the sensitivity of pigment while avoiding spectacle or repetition.
Since 2021, Leclef has held a permanent residency at Forwart Gallery, which has been instrumental in developing and presenting his work on an international stage. His works have been featured at fairs including PAD Paris, the Venice Biennale, Enter Copenhagen, and Art Miami. Leclef's work was part of several group exhibitions at Forwart Gallery Antwerp, Knokke, and Hasselt. Together, they have realized solo exhibitions including Poetic Recycling and now Remains To Be Seen (2025), the latter introducing a new body of work including a series inspired by their acclaimed presentation in Copenhagen in 2025 and unseen work collaboration with Nespresso®, in dialogue with some of his iconic pieces. Through Forwart Gallery, his art has also entered prominent collections and interiors such as The Jane Antwerp and Botanic Sanctuary Antwerp.
Parallel to this, Leclef has shown internationally with galleries in Italy, the United States, Canada, South Africa and Spain. His works are part of private collections across all continents. He has also been invited to collaborate with leading maisons such as Delvaux (2009).
His practice has been documented in two monographs published by Lannoo: Paperworld (2016) and Paperworld 2 (2022).
Leclef’s practice is ultimately a meditation on transformation: what society discards is reimagined as enduring, layered, and poetic. His works ask the deceptively simple question: what remains, and what is left to be seen?