Upon entering the Ponchettes Gallery, one pushes back a curtain to enter the room. In fact, it was a sail. The visitor finds themselves on the deck of an old sailing ship, an old rigging. The metaphor of the ship perfectly illustrates this exhibition.
The artist Adrien Vescovi was born in 1981 in Thonon les Bains, and today he lives in Marseille. This helps to better understand his work. Marseille is a gateway between three continents: Europe, Africa, and Asia. The colors are those of the sun, the spices, the colors.
One might see the expression of climate theory in it. Besides, his canvases first stayed in Holland, which is a story of painting, the Dutch masters, and then the artist explores the soul of Marseille. The ropes lying on the ground, jars filled with liquids of various colors, the canvases stretched or swayed by the wind, it’s the old port. Panisse is not far away!
Adrien Vescovi brings movement, life to his work. The piece is meant to move, transform, evolve. The colors? But they will change, age, mold. It is the northern light, the artist explains, that has aged the fabrics, the time, its wear, its erosion, yes the works are alive! The rain, the wind, the sun, the sea, the salt, the air, all this will contribute to modifying these canvases, these fabrics stretched, hung, exposed.
Adrien Vescovi speaks of a chance in the evolution, the ripening of his work, a chance yes, but a tamed chance! The artist has juggled with the places, their history, their architecture. So the deck of a sailing ship? It’s an image, a metaphor summarizing this exhibition where one imagines quite effortlessly being in a sail loft.
An exhibition that will continue until September 8, 2019. Canvases exposed directly to the sea spray, the air, the wind are there, both to welcome visitors and to show how a fabric ages in contact with the erosion of time, an experience, a performance renewed.
Thierry Jan
