The attention to the human figure and to the contemplation that surrounds a human being in a public or private life scenario is a theme investigated by several artists who rediscover in painting a way to describe the human condition as a contemporary still life.
Adrien Belgrand (1982, France) – By Lara Sedbon – in his bright and colour saturated compositions, portrays scenes of solitary life extrapolated from their everyday life and poured into a temporal suspension that recalls the vivid compositions of David Hockney. Dom Simon (1964, Ivory Coast) – Rodler Gschwenter Gallery – with his ballpoint pen on paper (his preferred medium) restores the intimacy of a personal universe where thoughtful subjects are suspended in a temporal dimension between reality and dream.
The search for interiority in loneliness spaces is found in the uncontrolled bodies by young painter Lara Bloy (1993, France) – Galerie RENARD HACKER. Figures, often female, congested in movements of tension and torsion as in a state of syncope express an inner passion that fills the empty settings. A seductive and disturbing femininity laced with satire and horror, addressing themes of trauma, colonialism and Black femininity is depicted in the canvases of another young painter, Taína Cruz (1998, USA) – Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler.
Two more female artists explore scenes of everyday life, paying attention to the humanity of the settings. Paula Querido (1992, Brasil) – GALERIE LAZAREW– in her large linen canvases uses vibrant colorful fields to suspend the temporality of her subjects who distance themselves from usual reality towards another visual universe. Clémentine Margheriti (1981, France) – Galerie Ariane C-Y – paints on small slate prepared with a layer of chalk and hide glue, before painting with oil and emulsion. She creates the subjects from her library of personal images, fixing in painting
the moment stolen through photography. A captivating dialogue between figuration and abstraction, where human figures have disappeared and spatial contemplation is more present, can be found in the paintings of the following artists: Loïc Van Zeebroek (1994, Belgium) – Dauwens & Beernaert Gallery – represents with extreme meticulousness boundless landscapes, sometimes almost monochromatic, immersing our vision in an atmosphere of reflection and introspection that recalls the silent mystery of romantic landscapes.
Michiko Van de Velde (1994, Belgium) – Quai4 galerie – attempts to capture the passage of time through the interpretation of the sunlight at different times and in different places using a plurality of media (painting, ceramics, etchings, books and video). Time suspension, contemplation and introspection are also visible in the architectural landscapes depicted by Jens Hausmann (1964, Germany) – GALERIE ANJA KNOESS. As an homage to iconic buildings of modern architecture pioneers such as Mies van der Rohe or Le Corbusier, Hausmann’s paintings, based on photographs of luxurious villas , are an interpretation of enchanted settings located somewhere between fiction and reality.
All works are available in our catalogue
By Emanuela Mazzonis
