Metaphysical Landscapes
This exhibition is a dialogue involving four internationally renowned artists: Marc Couturier, Evgeni Dybsky, Raffi Kaiser and Frank Perrin. Over thirty works will be on view from September 25th to November 22nd, 2014. Our selection of paintings, photographs and drawings intends to be a reflection on the time-space perception. All four artists are related to classical art, a position we consider to be important in our period of denial. Their works give witness to a pictural sensitivity anchored in physical materiality.
AV Modern & Contemporary is pleased to present Metaphysical Landscapes, an exhibition of works by four international artists, Marc Couturier, Evgeni Dybsky, Raffi Kaiser, and Frank Perrin. Curated by Paris-based art historian Jeanette Zwingenberger and AV Modern & Contemporary director, Sofia Komarova, the exhibition brings together over thirty paintings, drawings, and photographs, which collectively explore multiple dimensions of time and space.
The exhibition borrows its title from metaphysical painting, the artistic movement established in Italy in 1917 by Giorgio de Chiricowith a goal of “painting that which cannot be seen.” De Chirico’s interest in “true reality” that is hidden behind the reality of appearances is echoed in the work of the four artists who use the tangible – landscape, architecture, figures, objects – as a conduit for their own mindset. Additionally, the title’s nod to art history is not coincidental: from Raffi Kaiser’s landscapes reminiscent of Japanese scroll painting to Evgeni Dybsky’s contemplations on Giotto frescos, all four artists quote classical art in their work – an important standpoint in our forgetful culture.
The selection of works reveals four distinct approaches: Raffi Kaiser’s drawings invite viewers to discover real landscapes, Marc Couturier’s paintings and found objects play with the emergence of figures and imaginary views, Evgeni Dybsky’s work examines historical painting and our perceptions of it whereas the ghost towns captured in Frank Perrin’s photographs deal with the memory of places.
“These exhibited works … conceal enigmatic representations to render each spectator an active participant as well as arouse the state of waking-dream, the very essence of art itself.” writes Jeanette Zwingenberger in the exhibition catalog that will be published by AV Modern & Contemporary.
“We are deeply indebted to curator Jeanette Zwingenberger who, with great sensitivity, selected the works and orchestrated a dialogue between them. ” writes Sofia Komarova in her foreword. “Drawings, oils on canvas, photographs, pure matter: the combination of visual and material elements in these juxteposed landscapes makes them resonate all the more powerfully. ”
