Galleries in Paris

Pierre Mabille  Horizons
This new exhibition by Pierre Mabille shows three different parts of his recent works : paintings (acrylic on canvas) ; a whole of drawings called Antidictionnaire started in 2008 and a second group of paintings called Suite Bonnard.
Since 1997, whatever medium used, the elongated shape is systematically repeated in Pierre Mabille’s works given more and more numerous visual possibilities. This declination used as a list, never stops growing, moving away from a precise definition of this shape-matrix.
The horizontal format of the recent paintings is not only stressed by the oblique shape but also by the disappearance of the vertical weft previously present, leaving this time all the space for the horizontal division. Colors are bright and contrasted. The strips and the forms get tangled without be mixed. These last paintings are becoming more complex. The previous coats and the brush strokes are in certain places left visible. A new dynamic takes place.
Under the stained glass window of the gallery the « Suite Bonnard » is on display. This series is constituted by around thirty paintings of small or medium sizes. Atmospheric and poetic are the immediate feelings that we feel in front of these works. For the artist all these canvases represent a fragment interpretation of the same Pierre Bonnard painting while being fundamentally an exegesis of the studio work.
In these paintings, the shape is placed so that it does not determine any symmetry. Thus it floats in the color, in the colored space. The reading of the painting is no more narrative but rather suspended. Every painting could be viewed here as the detail of a single work which would be the whole. The surface of these works differs from the previous ones pursuing the premises of materials mentioned above. The passage of numerous coats is visible, a light white veil sometimes covering partially the surface. Watercolors effects offer a vaporous atmosphere.
As for the shape it is always opaque, plain and well defined.
Last, a set of drawings from the Antidictionaire series takes place on two walls of the gallery.
Started in 2008, these drawings on paper (21 x 29,5 cm) are regularly worked by the artist. The photos of the oblique shape appeared under diverse configurations. Sent by his friends and amateurs they are also present in the form of a slide show, which takes place into the presentation of the drawings.
Facing the Antidictionnaire drawings, a new edition created at the Bordas Studio (edition of 20) is presented. This edition combines a portfolio of 52 boards from the Antidictionnaire series (pigment inkjet) with a text book in a single box. This edition, like a facsimile, gives an idea of all the wealth of the Antidictionnaire.
This exhibition presents the multiple facets of Pierre Mabille’s work. His interest for the list, the repetition which gives him an important freedom and allows him to investigate the color and the language. A work in perpetual movement.
During the exhibition : presentation of Pierre Mabille’s book “comment on fait”, drawn and laid out by Hervé Aracil, published by Le Bleu du Ciel in association with The International Biennial of the Val-de-Marne Poets.