Bertrand Lavier. Hier, Oggi

Massimo De Carlo gallery is pleased to present Hier, Oggi a solo exhibition by the French artist Bertrand Lavier, with whom Massimo De Carlo has collaborated since the early nineties.

Bertrand Lavier is renowned for his humorous reflections on abstract painting, where he plays with the concept of abstraction through large-scale coloured canvases and mirrors. His thoughts on consumerism and authorship, matured through having first handed lived the tumultuous experience of Paris in 1968, and gave birth to an on-going series of painted sculptural objects. Gesture is key in Bertrand Lavier’s oeuvre, where the pictorial element defines the content and the context.

The exhibition Hier,Oggi is structured as a small retrospective, where the artist has selected a number of works from different periods of his forty year long career, focusing on the period that goes from 1983 to today, where pieces specifically made for the exhibition are shown alongside memorable works from the early eighties.

The investigation of the notion of industry, consumerism and imagery reproduction is key in the narrative that surrounds Lavier’s relationship with arts and objects. The works on show from the early eighties, such as Formica red (1983); Timex (1987) and Bloc de peinture rouge (1992) are iconic examples of Bertrand Lavier’s ability to morph object-hood through the painterly gesture, challenging and experimenting the Duchampian concept of Ready Made.

Bertrand Lavier has choose to address the notion of time, key in the narrative of the exhibition, through the selection of a series of his renowned Mirror Paintings. The artist covers each mirror with either coloured paint or a particular type of thick transparent paint: the artist blurs out our reflection, exiting normality and inviting us into a dazed and ethereal dimension. For this occasion the artist has chose three different styles to sign the passage of time in our lives and in history of art: one baroque, one art deco, and one contemporary. 

A series of red coloured large scale canvases, created for this exhibition, testify Lavier’s on- going interest in the exploration of colour and the aural experience of abstraction lived through the handling of colour and the creation of a language through the pictorial gesture.

Bertrand Lavier’s quest to explore the common notions of artwork and object-hood and their relationship with the eye and the ego, where colours and replications evoke and provoke experiences and contemplations yesterday, and today.   
Opening reception on Wednesday 11th of April 06pm-09pm  

Vai alla guida d'arte di Milano