From March 27th to April 18th, 2021 @ Galerie Michel Guimont
The Empire painting series comes from a desire to question the role of power and money in culture, and its impact on people’s lives, on the work of artists. It seems obvious that recent art history can be interpreted as the result of great empires justifying their importance through culture. The artist here explores the historical relationship between art and power, he creates paintings that offer more than a vehicle for the dominant values and which, in the end, speak of freedom.
The figurative paintings being an exploration of his own relationship to art and culture, the artist creates a series of paintings that evoke the notion of Empire, with its effects on populations, but also on art history and current cultural creation. Working in a realistic style from photographic sources, he confronts the realities evoked in the paintings by juxtaposing them, by making them strange, by constructing a poetic arrangement. The subjects are varied, inspired by images taken in spectacular settings that highlight the relationship between art and money (a fashion show or a performance in a large hall). Continue reading
