Watch the video shot for the exhibition by NewsArt Today Tv
 

To celebrate its 15 years of activity, Polad-Hardouin gallery will gather in an anniversary exhibition the works of 30 artists who contributed to make its heart beat. This non-exhaustive ensemble, mostly selected from our storeroom, puts the emphasis on painting and drawing and outlines a distinctive aesthetic shaped by the choices of its founder and director Dominique Polad-Hardouin.

Of course, as in life, the path may be windy and lead to unexpected detours. Nevertheless, the hundreds of organised exhibitions and participations in international fairs (Paris, London, New York…) suggest the red thread of a pictorial and personal journey.

On could say it all began with a movement, the New Figuration (Maryan, Michel Macréau, Marcel Pouget, Jacques Grinberg…), which, back in the 1960s, opened up a third way for the painters of the time. Artists from expressionist movements and CoBrA used the lyrical force of abstraction to overcome the representation divide and to propose an uncanny universe marked by dark humour.

It is in this poetic and sensual theatre that Dominique Polad-Hardouin went looking for artists of the younger generation whose works echoed the concerns of their predecessors while taking a fresh look at the world. With perseverance and enthusiasm, she travelled to Germany, the UK, Switzerland, China and Syria – among other countries – to meet artists whose physical approach to painting and to the urgency of drawing composes a radiant hymn to life, jubilatory and overwhelming.

This aesthetic affiliation runs alongside a family history centred on rue Quincampoix. In 1972, Cérès Franco founded at n. 58 of the street the gallery “L’Œil de Bœuf”, where, for almost 25 years, she promoted the artistic trends derived from New Figuration with artists who, at the time, were defined as “bruts” or “singuliers”. Having grown in this environment, in 2001 her daughter Dominique Polad-Hardouin launched her own gallery, “Idées d’artistes”, in the same street. In 2007, the gallery changed to its current name and location. This double affiliation will be highlighted throughout the exhibition itinerary.

Every artistic movement, whatever its nature, creates possibilities. The artistic perspective is constantly evolving and, thanks to the recent surge of interest for “Outsiders” (self-taught or not), artists who had long been ignored by institutions unexpectedly found themselves in the spotlight. Thanks to the unrelenting work and support of gallery owners, exhibition curators and collectors, the artistic community defined by Itzhak Goldberg as “the hidden side of contemporary art” is now enjoying unprecedented visibility and recognition.

Times are changing and gallery owners must also adapt to increasingly rapid mutations in society and its practices. The upcoming exhibition also inaugurates a new way of operating for the gallery. In order to achieve greater structural flexibility and mobility, and to reach out to new audiences, the gallery will privilege extra-muros exhibitions, participations in international fairs and institutional curatorships. From 2017, the opening hours in situ will be reduced and concentrated at the end of the week (from Thursday to Friday and on appointment).

Artists presented:

Sabhan Adam / Gérard Alary / Timothy Archer / Lydie Arickx / Anya Belyat-Giunta / Christophe Boursault / Daphné Chevallereau / Ayako David-Kawauchi / Caroline Demangel / Raynald Driez / Daniel Flammer / Elizabeth Garouste / Marcel Hüppauff / Andrew Gilbert / Jacques Grinberg / Michel Macréau / Maryan / Mohror / Orlando Mostyn-Owen / Michel Nedjar / Stani Nitkowski / Marcel Pouget / Emmanuelle Renard / Raphaëlle Ricol / Helmut Rieger / Jean Rustin / Christine Sefolosha / Wu Xiaohai.

Curator:
Julie Higonnet