Rouge
Niura Bellavinha et Philippa van Loon
Vernissage: le jeudi 12 septembre 2019 dès 18h en présence des artistes
Exposition: jusqu’au 29 octobre 2019
Red is one of the first colours used by artists in the Paleolithic era. Prehistoric rock paintings from Altamira, Spain, dating from 15,000 to 16,500 B.C. are early examples of red ochre paintings. Red was also important in ancient China, with examples of black and red pottery dating from 5000 to 3000 BC. In Egypt, traces of red ochre were found on the palette of a painter inside the tomb of King Tutankhamen.The red colour has always been of particular importance to cultures all over the world and this warm colour is most often associated with love in Western culture.
Using distinct references, Niura Bellavinha and Philippa van Loon will dialogue through the red color, which is inked in the universe of these two artists by femininity, fluidity, environment and emotions.
Niura Bellavinha was born in Brazil in the region of Minas Gerais, famous for the richness of its mines and precious stones, where the earth has an iron red color. In his childhood Bellavinha was presented by his father to the red lacquered wooden panels of the Chapel N.S. of the Ó de Sabará, in Minas Gerais, from the missionaries of Macau. Later, the artist revisited these red panels in his paintings steeped in history. Niura Bellavinha also uses in her works the roucou (urucum), a red pigment that is also used by South American natives in their body paintings.Red for the artist is a pure flow of life where white appears as light from the canvas.
Philippa van Loon speaks through several mediums. The drawing is used by the artist in his Goddesses, a series of preparatory studies for his sculptures of bronze goddesses. The artist uses as a model the body of a Barbie doll that expresses itself in a higher state of mind using the references of religious figures. In this altered state of the iconic doll, she brings together the influences of her father who was an archaeologist and her mother who was a yoga teacher. The creation of Goddesses sculptures has the stakes of creating new traces of our civilization. By keeping the shape of the Barbie doll and changing its material from plastic to bronze, the Goddesses are thus relayed from consumer object to sculpture.In his series Bodies the drawings reveal a state of reflection or existence that uses the body to reveal emotion. The artist takes the female body pattern to express several emotional states. Like Louise Bourgeois, red evokes a vast cultural register linked to the feminine: from menstruation to symbols of fertility and purity.
Red is also a reference in the works of artists such as Henri Mattise and his «Atelier Rouge», as well as that of the Brazilian artist Cildo Meirelles, and his «Desire towards the red». We invite you to explore the richness of the red color through the universes of Niura Bellavinha and Philippa van Loon.
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