Guy Oberson,
Je ne peux fermer les yeux
Galerie de l’Etrave, Espace d’art contemporain, Thonon-les-Bains
At first glance, Guy Oberson’s drawings can be seen as a graphic scramble, which makes them not immediately accessible. Something like an inside resistance causes the eyes to linger on them as if they were trying to encourage the person looking to experience the passage of time. Whether drawing the human figure or a mountain landscape, working from memory or photographs, the artist gives birth to an image that results from a hidden presence made visible in a fragmented framing that exceeds the strangeness of its emergence.
The town of Thonon-les-Bains has dedicated its second exhibition of the 2016-2017 season to Guy Oberson, whose work, shown at the Galerie de l’Etrave, continues to examine “le dessin dans tous ses états” or “drawing in all its forms.” Because the word drawing comes from “dessein” or purpose, no matter what materials are used, drawings are at the source of any intention to create a work of art. Long relegated to the margins, drawing has emerged in the last few years as a mode of expression on its own right. The idea of the exhibition is therefore to showcase what this practice has become in the field of fine art above and beyond a narrow definition of the word. Hailing from Switzerland, Guy Oberson was born in 1960 in Billens in the canton of Fribourg. He now lives and works between Lentigny and Paris.
Semaine n°409, revue hebdomadaire pour l’art contemporain
Author : Philippe Piguet
Published on Friday 13.01.2017
Paper edition, 16 pages, 4 € ORDER
Digital edition, 1,99 € oRDER
Also available in Semaine volume XXI, January-April 2017 (to be released in May 2017), 18€.
Anne Laure Sacriste,
Une vision première essayée dans la fleur
Galerie de l’Etrave, Espace d’art contemporain, Thonon-les-Bains
Taken from the title of the work by Odilon Redon, Il y eut peut-être une vision première essayée dans la fleur [There was perhaps a first vision attempted in the flower], a lithography from the collection Les Origines (1883), the title of Anne Laure Sacriste’s exhibition was chosen for several reasons. Her art is required by drawing and, at the very heart of this practice, by the stroke and by the color black. The major use of this color echoes what her elder says, “Black is the most essential color”, adding that it is “the spirit’s agent much more than it is a beautiful color taken from the palette or the prism”. While Redon’s position goes against the flow of his contemporaries, taking all artistic tendencies into account, Sacriste’s choice works in dissent of a period obsessed with quick, easy and flattering images.
The premiere of the 2016-2017 season, the exhibition that the town of Thonon-les-Bains is devoting to Anne Laure Sacriste at the Galerie de l’Etrave is the inauguration of a new cycle articulated around a reflection on “drawing in all its forms”. Due to the fact that it takes its origin from that of design, and no matter what materials it uses, drawing is at the source of all intention to create a work. Having been kept on the fringe for a long time, over the last few years, it has come to the fore as a form of expression in its own right. Over the year, the idea is therefore to highlight the position of drawing within the field of art, over and above the restrictive definition of the word.
Semaine n°407, revue hebdomadaire pour l’art contemporain
Auteur : Philippe Piguet
Published on Friday 14.10.2016
Paper edition, 16 pages, 4 € ORDER
Digital edition, 1,99 € oRDER
Also available in Semaine volume XX, September-December 2016, 18€.
Micromégas,
Boch, Callot, Favier, Limone, Mazabraud, Moninot, Pincemin, Rousseau, Soulhiol, Torres
Galerie de l’Etrave, Espace d’art contemporain, Thonon-les-Bains
The Chapelle de la Visitation’s contemporary art activity has been transfered in the Galerie de l’Etrave, which is located in the Maurice Novarina Theatre. This relocation, which will last for two years, is the consequence of the building work undertaken by the cultural branch of the Visitation, which will have an impact on all the activities that take place there. The town of Thonon therefore asked Philippe Piguet, who has been exhibition curator at the Chapelle de la Visitation since 2008, to imagine a cycle of 4 exhibitions based on a general theme which would act as an echo to the Theatre, a place dedicated to performing arts. Represented by the expression “worlds apart” and illustrated by an ensemble of three monographic exhibitions and one group exhibition, the choice of this theme stems from the feeling that the place evokes with regards to a different space, away from all exterior circulation, hidden within the Theatre. A separate space.
Semaine n°403, revue hebdomadaire pour l’art contemporain
Author : Philippe Piguet.
Published on Friday 24.06.2016
Paper edition, 16 pages, 4 € ORDER
Digital edition, 1,99 € ORDER
Also available in Semaine volume XX, September-December 2016, 18€.
