Delicate lines that run into each other.
Thin, almost transparent applications of paint and a light blue that lies like a veil over the oil paintings – Marc Desgrandchamps, who was born in south-eastern France in 1960 and works in Lyon, stages obscure, surreal open-air scenes and is one of the most important representatives of the contemporary French art scene .
His medium has always been painting, his subjects are landscapes of France, which he brings to the canvas sometimes with old-master techniques, sometimes in a pastel-like manner.
In the exhibition "Moment", the gallery Eigen + Art in Berlin is now showing a series of works consisting of large-format oil paintings and small-format gouaches, which were created during the corona lockdown and illustrate an empty world that is atypical for him.
Kevin Hanschke
volunteer.
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In the small gallery rooms, the main works of the exhibition indicate the direction in which the artist went: in the painting "Les Lettres" the outline of a person behind a desk is discernible. The person's gaze seems to be turned away from the viewer. Mountains rise in the background. The foothills in front of it are barren. This is reminiscent of the region where Desgrandchamps was born, who comes from the small commune of Sallanches, fifty kilometers from Geneva in the foothills of the Alps. It seems as if the stillness of mountain life is combined in his paintings with “life in waiting”, as the painter called the lockdown. This is also the case in “Paysage aux statues absentes”, in which headless human figures and the outlines of ancient statues stand in nature.This scenery is similar to the painting “Untitled” from 2020, which depicts a woman looking at the horizon (all three paintings 42,000 euros each).
The diptych “l'Ile de Wrangel” from 2021, which is reminiscent of Dalí's “Permanence of Memory” (price on request), is quite different.
Colorful towels in the branches of trees blow in the wind.
Buffalo, mammoths and cows graze below.
This is also a reminiscence of his homeland.
After graduating from high school, Desgrandchamps studied in Aix-en-Provence and in Paris, at the École national supérieure des beaux-arts.
His first major exhibition took place at the Center Pompidou in 1987, at a time when French art critics were lauding conceptual art and considering painting as a medium effectively over.
In 2012, Desgrandchamps had his first gallery show in Germany at the Eigen + Art Lab.
In France he is represented by Galerie Lelong from Paris.
Desgrandchamps' pictures are characterized by cinematographic compositions. Many motifs are based on film sequences. The gouaches from 2021 show scenic shadow plays: groups of people with sad looks. Animals that crowd out of the picture, but also shadows that climb in trees (each 3500 euros). Another work shines out next to it. It suggests an open car door and a woman walking across a field into water. The triptych "untitled" shows a person who seems to be fleeing his old life. The blue horizon seems close (price on request).
Since his beginnings as a painter, Desgrandchamps' technique and choice of motifs have changed significantly. His most recent works are characterized by an ethereal stroke that plays with the concept of transparency. In these pictures he was particularly interested in scenic "transitory sites and transitional spaces", he says in an interview. Beaches on the Atlantic and the North Sea are also among his sources of inspiration. Desgrandchamps' realistic and dreamlike motifs are reminiscent of Neo Rauch's early work, surrealism, but also Max Beckmann and Kasimir Malevich. His paintings express a desire for closeness, he says. “We have been living in a strange time since the beginning of the pandemic. In France we talked about the 'world of tomorrow'. We now know that we are mortal.”
Marc Desgrandschamps, “Moment
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Galerie Eigen + Art, Berlin, until February 12