EXTREME PAINTING @ GALERIE D’ESTE
July 14 - August 15
Vernissage Wednesday July 14 from 5 pm to 8 pm
Galerie D’Este is proud to present the group show “Extreme Painting”, part of a series of exhibitions uniting sixteen Montreal galleries. The gallery will present works by Paul Bourgault, Ángel Mateo Charris, Costa Dvorezky, Drew Simpson and Jean-Pierre Ruel on the theme of the human figure. Each painter places the figure in context (or out of context) to elaborate on the body with his own vision.
Paul Bourgault uses vibrant colours and modeled flesh and draperies to create dynamic sacred spaces spilling over with abundance. The fragmented, Classicizing bodies swirl among food wrappings, labels, print cutouts and enlarged dot-matrix textures in dense compositions that are truly excessive.
In widescreen figuration, the work of Ángel Mateo Charris surprises with cinematic angles and simple but equivocal compositions. His costumed figures skulk anonymously at the centre of bizarre and irrational circumstances under a sky reminiscent of De Chirico, confronted inconclusively with symbols drawn from popular culture.
Costa Dvorezky’s « Jump » series explores the figure at the apex of a movement, floating against an abstract ground which drips down around them. Broad strokes define the play of light on muscles in a tribute to the Mannerist technique of distorting anatomy to enhance the sense of gesture. Through his amalgamation of genres, Dvorezky’s contemporary practice honors his heritage as a painter.
Drew Simpson’s arrangements of objects, resembling curiosity cabinets, reveal the interior spaces of homes in the hyper-naturalist tradition of classical Dutch still-life painting. The lush textures of wood paneling, velvet, flowers and fruit are set on edge by elements of strangeness referring to war and death, be it a human jawbone in a floral arrangements or a miniature Spitfire, guns blazing, arcing around an antique chair. This human element disturbs the space, troubling the viewer and offering an ironic comment on the relationship between the human being and his “interior”.
Jean-Pierre Ruel’s works provoke passion and reflection with his extraordinary brushwork and destabilizing content. The artist paints with an inspiration that is as much visceral as spiritual, his stroke at once instinctive and controlled. He presents silent, emotionally charged interactions between figures who seem to suddenly have fallen silent. The viewer is left to situate herself within these strange meetings, intrigued by the sensation of having just walked in on something.
Address: 1329 Greene Ave., Montreal (Quebec)
