François Bard, The other side, Oil on paper, Oil on paper, 75 x 53 cm, 2021 – François Bard, Le seul jour, Oil on paper, Oil on paper, 75 x 53 cm, 2021
From one bank to the other. By crossing the Seine to settle in rue du Perche (3rd), the Olivier Waltman gallery is not abandoning its location on rue Mazarine (6th).
She splits! “The historic Saint-Germain-des-Prés address will be dedicated to young and emerging artists, with a focus on design, drawing and photography,” explains the gallery owner, while the Marais space, with its larger volume ( 4,5 meters of ceiling height) will make it possible to accommodate international and ambitious programming with a propensity for large formats. »
For its inaugural exhibition, the Maraisian gallery which has just opened its doors on September 21, presents the recent productions of François Bard, for whom this is the sixth solo exhibition at Olivier Waltman. Tight frames, characters from behind or off-camera, faces hidden by hands, the hyper-realistic work of this French artist born in 1956 draws on the codes of cinema, with its zooms, and large-scale painting, and his art of chiaroscuro .
François Bard, The visitor (in progress), Oil on paper, Oil on paper, 195 x 150 cm, 2021
“Bard's vocabulary is not so far from the codes of Dutch painting of the XNUMXth century, where the bourgeois of the time immediately recognized what these wilted flowers, these hourglasses referred to…”, slips Waltman. In passing, the virtuoso artist confuses the tracks of his well-crafted scenario by sending a nod to Magritte whose famous formula he diverts – “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” – to invert it: “Ceci est une pipe” pair of shoes. »
François Bard, This is a pair of shoes, Oil on canvas, Oil on canvas, 161 x 130 cm, 2021
For his first exhibition in the Marais, Olivier Waltman strikes a major blow – as well as the spirits – while confirming the rise of the Marais in the eyes of international gallery owners, several of whom (David Zwirner, Lévy Gorvy, etc.) have recently chosen to elect home in the neighborhood. Welcome!
Galerie Olivier Waltman
16 rue du Perche, 75003 Paris
From Monday to Saturday from 10h30 to 19h30
Tel: +01 43 54 76 14 XNUMX
Text: Axel Gyldén
28.09.21
CURRENT EXHIBITIONS A MUST SEE
Susumu Shingu, praise of slowness
At the Jeanne Bucher Jaeger gallery, a century-old space at the bottom of a courtyard, around thirty drawings and kinetic sculptures, moving works by the Japanese artist Susumu Shingu, are displayed. It was a trend in vogue in the 1950s, led by artists such as the Athenian Takis or the Brazilian Soto.
Ethan Murrow and his hymn to plants
The Girls of Calvaire gallery, sheltered at the back of a courtyard, is hosting the solo show “Magic Soil” by the American Ethan Murrow until November 25. A unique set of around fifteen paintings and drawings that pay homage to nature.
Marilyn forever
Sixty years after her death, Marilyn still embodies the eternal feminine. In the heart of the Marais, Joseph gallery, the Monroe Experience offers a digital and poetic exhibition until November 21, to better understand the myth and the woman, a start-up before her time, entrepreneur and modern for the time (sexual freedom , psychoanalysis etc.).
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