Parallel to his monumental installation in the Church of Célestins in Avignon, Gérard Alary showcases his most recent work (paintings and drawings) in space 1 of our gallery. Between light and shadow, a bright, black sun rises.
Gérard Alary exploits the energy of colour and rhythm to compose half-abstract landscapes from which human figures emerge.
His work of the years 2000s, in collaboration with video-maker Hakeem B, photographer Nicolas Rostagni, accompanied by soundscapes designed by Laurent Garnier, led to two big installations in Marseille (musée de la Vieille-Charité) in 2007 and Paris (chapelle de la Salpêtrière) in 2008. While following his mother, who suffered from Alzheimer, Gérard Alary reproduced on painting the silence of her memory on huge, black-and-white canvasses.
Alary’s art goes beyond the distinction between figuration and abstraction. As a painter, he exploits the materiality of painting, from which he extracts energy waves that leave on the canvas the traces of a presence. Colour is distributed in wide layers, which, combined with the main lines of force, allow him to delineate a figure. His compositions of portraits-landscapes encourage the viewer to discover the figurative elements hidden within the canvas.
In his minimalist works, Gérard Alary restricts himself to black-and-white colours; his gestures articulate and suggest the subject, without ever circumscribing it. Coloured or golden highlights occasionally add further tension. At ease with both small and big formats, Gérard Alary sometimes produces monumental canvasses, such as the one displayed in the Church of Célestins in Avignon until the 30th of September.

Born on the 23d of November 1945 in Avignon, Gérard Alary graduated from Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
He is a professor at the Ecole nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Dijon, and lives and works in Ivry-sur-Seine.
He presents his first personal exhibition in 1976 in Dijon.
His work is quickly noticed, which allows him to take part in Fiac from 1984.
He takes part in several international Salons (Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt). Several of his works were purchased by FNAC in 2008.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue, with a preface by Olivier Kaeppelin.