Elisabeth Guerrier
The French Perspective: Contemporary Art from France
June 29 - July 20, 2010
Reception:
Thursday July 1, 2010 6-8 PM
Press Release
Conventional wisdom draws a distinct line between the natural and man-made worlds. But to French artist Elisabeth Guerrier, there are manifold connections between the two that she explores through intriguing digital art. Her works convey the evolution and development of our artificial realm as parallel to the process of growth in nature. Conceptually, the link may be a shared color; other times the form itself. A trough of concrete may be linked by hue to a particular flower; overlapping scaffolding reaches towards the sky like knotty vines. These images are more than sophisticated visual puns; they act as a critique on the concept of naturalness. It is the industrial materials that capture her interest: “I’m attracted to their wild elegance, their power to be beautiful without any validation.”
For over twenty years her interests lay in theater and painting, but Guerrier has recently navigated towards digital art, embracing the freedom of the medium with stunning results. She exhibits her work frequently in France and the United States. Guerrier resides in Caen, France.
Artist Statement
I love mute places, anonymous dead lands where my eye extricates a piece of undiscovered reality. I’m not a photographer, matter is not an image but is to be magnified by my visual touch. All my encounters with matter have a specific effect on me, recalling the archaic “don’t touch” prohibition, and the civilized command “one touches with one’s eyes”. I reclaim matter’s insignificance and misremembered destinies as if finding a lost part of myself and ceremoniously put its gagged messages under the influence of a slow, meticulous mutation. I try to create some personal transcription of the effects their unexpected roughness has on me. I’m attracted to their wild elegance, their power to be beautiful without validation. I bring color and matter to a point of flavor, so the sweetness of a stony blue or the acidity of a blistered orange leave a drop of their improbability on our taste buds.
Invitation to the exhibition
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Artists in this exhibition
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