Bernard Frize
18 Jan - 01 Mar 2014
BERNARD FRIZE
Hello, My Name is Bernard Frize
18 January - 1 March 2014
Galerie Perrotin is pleased to present an exhibition of paintings by noted artist Bernard Frize, built out of the artist’s practice of experimentation.
As a new introduction to Bernard Frize, the exhibition reveals key facts about his work:
a. Bernard Frize’s paintings feature a spectrum of colors, selected not for their specific qualities but selected because they are distinct from one another; selected simply to be a color, not to evoke a mood or make a statement in and of themselves.
b. Bernard Frize follows systematic procedures in executing his paintings,
based on a pre-determined script he chooses which can do nothing
once put in motion but veer pointedly towards disruption.
c. Bernard Frize provides a stage for chance and the nature of the materials to make their way, to have their influence. Paint, resin, color, weight of the brush, imprint of the paint, the choice to allow a freeness to the touch.
In “Diola” gesture is evident. There is a saturation of color at the top and bottom of the canvas, at the edges of the brushstrokes. Throughout the main field of the painting, color is also saturated at the edges of the brushstrokes, where the paint became ever so slightly heavier from the friction between the brush and the canvas. The material (paint) is doing what it does. Water, pigment, gravity, the effects of drying all have their influence and all play a part in what the painting becomes. It’s an organic process.
We, as organic beings, can likely relate to it more readily than to a piece wholly controlled, with no variations brought about by the nature of the materials.
A straight line is not followed by a straight line. A curved line is not followed by a line that matches the same curve. The pattern is intentionally
askew.
In the painting “Paltif”, the process started with a brushstroke and led to the variations and disturbances progressing along to the opposite end of the canvas. Splashes of orange color are introduced amongst the blue brushstrokes. The explorations in this painting and in “Tir” led to the series “Mele,” “Imi” and “Liam”.
These works reveal precision, but with intentional variations to the precision. It is not computer-generated, it is not perfection, even though the artist has the right to strive for a perfection. Bernard Frize chose to let something else happen.
“My work is not the result of some kind of recipe, but an exploration about my identity in the world. . . How do I use my experience, experience that I can name mine in the mass of the information of the day?
The world presents itself as an obstinate and invading whole and I always have to measure and figure out the thread of skepticism.”
In this exhibition, the work is aesthetically resonant; pleasing to look at and contemplate. Paintings in the show are simple in appearance yet, as is usual with Bernard Frize’s work, stem from something more intricate, a rule he has devised to have the material and circumstance create the work. In viewing the work, it can be ok to free oneself to experience it at a surface level and allow initial thoughts to have credence:
#1 shimmer, sound wave, water droplet waves
#2 convex/concave with heavy spots at edges of some lines
#3 nice wash smudge; blue and pink featured; hot n cool; light blending
to dark from left to right
#4 yellow blue greeny brown
#5 horizontal tree trunk birch style; look more closely, especially where colors join; puzzles are revealed, but not solved
The paintings are disturbance. Bernard Frize establishes a field, a surface; then establishes a starting point; then creates a disturbance.
And for us, in the gallery, it is about looking. Look at how the gestures are layered. Look at the component parts, the color, the lines, the groups of colors, the groups of lines. How do they flow? How do they inter-relate? How are they distinct? Aesthetically, what is the quality of the mark on the canvas? Is it dense, is it consistent, is it even? What is its character? Notice the sweep of the brush. See where there was a twist of the wrist? Recognize the steadiness of the motion that created the marks.
It is an introduction. As if at a cocktail party and you meet someone new and notice everything about their suit and a spot on the tie and an uneven place in the left eyebrow and their pattern of looking directly at you while you are talking to them, but allowing their gaze to wander around the room as they speak to you.
And truly, the names of paintings don’t matter. The names do not provide extra meaning or hints at meaning, but only allow viewers to distinguish one painting from another and mentally sort them.
If we were all named “Person” we would have to make up new ways to refer to and remember one another. “Person taller than me” and “Person with the loud voice” and “Person who is always side-by-side with that other Person”.
Like with someone new, we can’t get to know about a painting unless we spend some time in a conversation with it. Sometimes it will have really interesting things to say.
As Bernard Frize describes it, “A work of art gives a form to Chaos, not because it reveals a hidden signification of the World. The forest is more or less dense for all of us, but we are all looking for a path through it. And if you are asking why people who are not artists could be interested by painting, I suppose the answer is that they probably share these questions in their life and they could project on paintings some answers for their quest.”
The tension here is tangible: with a careful, practiced discipline, Bernard Frize creates works that are simultaneously controlled yet free; at once determined yet random. These truths in the works are discovered by the viewer when he or she enters into a dialogue with the painting, opens eyes and studies the layers.
New introductions can be wonderful.
Sara Radelet
Hello, My Name is Bernard Frize
18 January - 1 March 2014
Galerie Perrotin is pleased to present an exhibition of paintings by noted artist Bernard Frize, built out of the artist’s practice of experimentation.
As a new introduction to Bernard Frize, the exhibition reveals key facts about his work:
a. Bernard Frize’s paintings feature a spectrum of colors, selected not for their specific qualities but selected because they are distinct from one another; selected simply to be a color, not to evoke a mood or make a statement in and of themselves.
b. Bernard Frize follows systematic procedures in executing his paintings,
based on a pre-determined script he chooses which can do nothing
once put in motion but veer pointedly towards disruption.
c. Bernard Frize provides a stage for chance and the nature of the materials to make their way, to have their influence. Paint, resin, color, weight of the brush, imprint of the paint, the choice to allow a freeness to the touch.
In “Diola” gesture is evident. There is a saturation of color at the top and bottom of the canvas, at the edges of the brushstrokes. Throughout the main field of the painting, color is also saturated at the edges of the brushstrokes, where the paint became ever so slightly heavier from the friction between the brush and the canvas. The material (paint) is doing what it does. Water, pigment, gravity, the effects of drying all have their influence and all play a part in what the painting becomes. It’s an organic process.
We, as organic beings, can likely relate to it more readily than to a piece wholly controlled, with no variations brought about by the nature of the materials.
A straight line is not followed by a straight line. A curved line is not followed by a line that matches the same curve. The pattern is intentionally
askew.
In the painting “Paltif”, the process started with a brushstroke and led to the variations and disturbances progressing along to the opposite end of the canvas. Splashes of orange color are introduced amongst the blue brushstrokes. The explorations in this painting and in “Tir” led to the series “Mele,” “Imi” and “Liam”.
These works reveal precision, but with intentional variations to the precision. It is not computer-generated, it is not perfection, even though the artist has the right to strive for a perfection. Bernard Frize chose to let something else happen.
“My work is not the result of some kind of recipe, but an exploration about my identity in the world. . . How do I use my experience, experience that I can name mine in the mass of the information of the day?
The world presents itself as an obstinate and invading whole and I always have to measure and figure out the thread of skepticism.”
In this exhibition, the work is aesthetically resonant; pleasing to look at and contemplate. Paintings in the show are simple in appearance yet, as is usual with Bernard Frize’s work, stem from something more intricate, a rule he has devised to have the material and circumstance create the work. In viewing the work, it can be ok to free oneself to experience it at a surface level and allow initial thoughts to have credence:
#1 shimmer, sound wave, water droplet waves
#2 convex/concave with heavy spots at edges of some lines
#3 nice wash smudge; blue and pink featured; hot n cool; light blending
to dark from left to right
#4 yellow blue greeny brown
#5 horizontal tree trunk birch style; look more closely, especially where colors join; puzzles are revealed, but not solved
The paintings are disturbance. Bernard Frize establishes a field, a surface; then establishes a starting point; then creates a disturbance.
And for us, in the gallery, it is about looking. Look at how the gestures are layered. Look at the component parts, the color, the lines, the groups of colors, the groups of lines. How do they flow? How do they inter-relate? How are they distinct? Aesthetically, what is the quality of the mark on the canvas? Is it dense, is it consistent, is it even? What is its character? Notice the sweep of the brush. See where there was a twist of the wrist? Recognize the steadiness of the motion that created the marks.
It is an introduction. As if at a cocktail party and you meet someone new and notice everything about their suit and a spot on the tie and an uneven place in the left eyebrow and their pattern of looking directly at you while you are talking to them, but allowing their gaze to wander around the room as they speak to you.
And truly, the names of paintings don’t matter. The names do not provide extra meaning or hints at meaning, but only allow viewers to distinguish one painting from another and mentally sort them.
If we were all named “Person” we would have to make up new ways to refer to and remember one another. “Person taller than me” and “Person with the loud voice” and “Person who is always side-by-side with that other Person”.
Like with someone new, we can’t get to know about a painting unless we spend some time in a conversation with it. Sometimes it will have really interesting things to say.
As Bernard Frize describes it, “A work of art gives a form to Chaos, not because it reveals a hidden signification of the World. The forest is more or less dense for all of us, but we are all looking for a path through it. And if you are asking why people who are not artists could be interested by painting, I suppose the answer is that they probably share these questions in their life and they could project on paintings some answers for their quest.”
The tension here is tangible: with a careful, practiced discipline, Bernard Frize creates works that are simultaneously controlled yet free; at once determined yet random. These truths in the works are discovered by the viewer when he or she enters into a dialogue with the painting, opens eyes and studies the layers.
New introductions can be wonderful.
Sara Radelet