Galerie Richard

Hervé HEUZÉ - Les Filles d'Ingres

Press release

Jean-Luc and Takako Richard present Hervé Heuzé’s sixteenth solo exhibition (and duos) entitled “Les Femmes d’Ingres” from April 20 to May 18, 2024. At some point, every artist will go back to the origin of his or her vocation. For Hervé Heuzé, the wallpaper motifs in his parents’ bedroom and a reproduction of a painting by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres were the starting point. Over three rooms, the artist presents three series of Posca paintings on paper mounted on canvas.

In the first room, which gives the exhibition its title, seven paintings of varying formats present frontal portraits in classic princess poses. Hervé Heuzé describes his current approach as follows:

“these drawings from an Ingres reproduction embody a profound reflection on the resonance of the past in our personal experience. It offers a visual meditation on how memory, nostalgia and creativity intertwine to form a complex web of meaning. The use of the original wallpaper from the parent’s bedroom as a material support lends a palimpsest dimension to the work. As a metaphor, palimpsest reveals the idea that our lives are built on layers of the past, with memories and previous experiences leaving invisible traces that influence our present existence. The integration of Ingres’ portrait through collage thus reflects on how art, as a reflection of humanity, can transcend time and generations. The deliberate choice to use Posca markers on kraft paper creates an interesting creative tension.

The subtle colors characteristic of Posca markers clash with the textured kraft background, symbolizing the conflict between the desire to preserve the beauty of the past and the need to stand out and express oneself individually. The past is not a static but a fluid entity that continues to influence our present. What’s more, it underlines the power of nostalgia, that emotional force that drives us to revisit earlier moments with new understanding.”

In the second room, amid lush vegetation reminiscent of Cape Verde, we discover portraits of his children and people close to the artist, as well as a painting recalling memories of London, where part of his family lives. In the spirit of a series of paintings by Gerhard Richter, Hervé Heuzé, in the third room, inaugurates a new series of music and art stars to whom he pays tribute, in this case the rapper Kendrick Lamar and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Hervé Heuzé was born in Rouen in 1964 and lives and works in Normandy. A graduate of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Rouen, he exhibits regularly in Paris, New York and at contemporary art fairs. His work has been shown at the Musée de Nice, the Musée et Centre Contemporain de Montbéliard, the Emily Davis Gallery at the University of Akron, OH, USA…

Laureate of the Villa Médicis hors les murs in 1991, his paintings are in the collections of the Palais de l’Elysée, the Centrum Beeldende Kunst Rotterdam, the Centre d’Art et de Culture Borusan, Istambul, the Musée de Montbéliard and in the private collections of Christian Lacroix, the Fondation Jean Hamon, Richard P. Friedman, NY, Dr Mark A.Maggiani, Malta, Dr Med H.C. Hans Schieussner, Frankfurt am Main, Thierry Martinez, Paris…

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